I'm surprised by king in Irish city (4)
I believe the answer is:
cork
'irish city' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'i'm surprised by king' is the wordplay.
'i'm surprised' becomes 'cor' (old-fashioned UK expression of shock or awe).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'king' becomes 'K' (abbreviation for king in chess).
'cor'+'k'='CORK'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for cork that I've seen before include "One stops" , "Wine stopper" , "Buoyant bark" , "Irish seaport" , "Buoyant substance from a tree" .)