Ray — powerful — toyed with male bears (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
laser beam
'ray' is the definition.
(laser beam is a kind of ray)
'toyed with male bears' is the wordplay.
'toyed with' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'toying with' mean this (I've seen this in other clues)).
'male'+'bears'='malebears'
'malebears' anagrammed gives 'LASER BEAM'.
'powerful' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for laser beam that I've seen before include "Shaft of light or electromagnetic radiation" , "Column of intensified light" , "Shaft of light or electro-mechanic radiation" , "penetrating light" , "Intense ray of light" .)