Smart current newspaper in US city (5)
I believe the answer is:
nifty
'smart' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'current newspaper in us city' is the wordplay.
'current' becomes 'i' (symbol for electric current).
'newspaper' becomes 'ft'.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'us city' becomes 'ny' (I've seen this in other clues).
'i'+'ft'='ift'
'ift' placed inside 'ny' is 'NIFTY'.
(Other definitions for nifty that I've seen before include "Dandy" , "Stylish, nimble" , "Fast and neat" , "Particularly effective; stylish" , "Particularly good (informal)" .)