European is smart, journalist admitted (7)
I believe the answer is:
swedish
'european' is the definition.
(Sweden is part of Europe)
'smart journalist admitted' is the wordplay.
'smart' becomes 'swish' (I've seen this before).
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'admitted' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are admitted in).
'swish' enclosing 'ed' is 'SWEDISH'.
'is' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for swedish that I've seen before include "He saw Miss Degas (anag) -- Scandinavian body work" , "like Bergman" , "from European country" , "Nordic" , "Eg, native to Stockholm" .)