Surprisingly bright little fish? (5)
I believe the answer is:
bleak
'fish?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'surprisingly bright little' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'little' could be 'l' (abbreviation for little) and 'l' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'beak' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bleak that I've seen before include "Exposed and barren" , "Cold, bare; a Dickensian House" , "offering little comfort" , "Dreary; fish" , "Dreary; cold, miserable" .)