Revered creature that surprises me (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
holy cow
'surprises me' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.
'revered creature' is the wordplay.
'revered' becomes 'holy' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'creature' becomes 'cow' (cow is a kind of animal).
'holy'+'cow'='HOLY COW'
'that' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for holy cow that I've seen before include "Blimey!" , "The goodness" .)