Led by it, you can't win by it (4)
I believe the answer is:
nose
'led' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'it you can't win by it' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'nos' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'by' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nose that I've seen before include "Snout" , "blow it!" , "Asian wind instrument -- use Teflon (anag)" , "Schnozzle" , "See 7" .)