Stupid fellow was first held back smuggling wild animal (8)
I believe the answer is:
dotterel
'stupid fellow' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how one could define the other.
'was first held back smuggling wild animal' is the wordplay.
'was first' becomes 'led' (to lead is to go first).
'held back' says the letters should be written backwards.
'smuggling' is an insertion indicator (some letters smuggled inside).
'wild animal' becomes 'otter' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'wild' bit.).
'led' reversed gives 'del'.
'del' enclosing 'otter' is 'DOTTEREL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for dotterel that I've seen is " See bird".)