Frozen fish covers student's plate (4)
I believe the answer is:
cold
'frozen' is the definition.
(associated in meaning)
'fish covers student's plate' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'plate' could be 'l' (from the L-plate that Learner drivers use) and 'l' is present in the answer.
'fish' could be 'cod' (type of fish) and 'cod' is present in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cold that I've seen before include "complaint" , "Unemotional; wintry" , "Stand-offish" , "Unfeeling" , "Lacking emotion" .)