Snake cleaner fed, nervously (3,2,5)
I believe the answer is:
fer-de-lance
'snake' is the definition.
(fer-de-lance is a kind of snake)
'cleaner fed nervously' is the wordplay.
'nervously' indicates an anagram.
'cleaner'+'fed'='cleanerfed'
'cleanerfed' anagrammed gives 'FER-DE-LANCE'.
(Another definition for fer-de-lance that I've seen is " Venomous American snake".)
I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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