Thick-skinned creature taking fruit on European river (5)
I believe the answer is:
hippo
'thick-skinned creature' is the definition.
'hippo' can be an answer for 'creature' (I've seen this before). I am not sure about the 'thick-skinned' bit.
'fruit on european river' is the wordplay.
'fruit' becomes 'hip' (fruit of a rose plant).
'on' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'european river' becomes 'Po' (Italian river).
'hip'+'po'='HIPPO'
'taking' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hippo that I've seen before include "One thick-skinned" , "Massive thick-skinned animal of African rivers" , "African river mammal" , "Semiaquatic animal" , "Large semi-aquatic pachyderm (abbr)" .)