Modern novel enthusiast smuggled last few in (10)
I believe the answer is:
newfangled
'modern' is the definition.
(newfangled means modern or fashionable)
'novel enthusiast smuggled last few in' is the wordplay.
'novel' becomes 'new' (novel means new or fresh).
'enthusiast' becomes 'fan' (fan is a kind of enthusiast).
'smuggled last few in' becomes 'gled' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'new'+'fan'+'gled'='NEWFANGLED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for newfangled that I've seen before include "Excessively modern" , "(Unnecessarily) different from what one is used to" , "Modern and familiar" , "like nothing seen before" , "Recent" .)