Exclusive group from lake bed, originally (7)
I believe the answer is:
coterie
'exclusive group' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'lake bed originally' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'lake' could be 'erie' (Lake Erie is one of the Canadian/US 'Great Lakes') and 'erie' is found in the answer.
'bed' could be 'cot' (cot is a kind of bed) and 'cot' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'from' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for coterie that I've seen before include "Literary circle" , "Set" , "Small exclusive group of people" , "Select group" , "Group, band" .)