Surprise opening by the Parisian (7)
I believe the answer is:
startle
'surprise' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'opening by the parisian' is the wordplay.
'opening' becomes 'start' (I've seen this before**).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the parisian' becomes 'le' (definite article in French).
'start'+'le'='STARTLE'
(Other definitions for startle that I've seen before include "Cause to jump" , "Take (someone) aback" , "Alarm suddenly" , "Astonish" , "Rock" .)