Cardinal's festival spurning the Queen (4)
I believe the answer is:
east
'cardinal's' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'festival spurning the queen' is the wordplay.
'festival' becomes 'Easter' (Christian festival).
'spurning' is a deletion indicator.
'the queen' becomes 'ER' (Elizabeth Regina).
'easter' with 'er' taken out is 'EAST'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for east that I've seen before include "Airport near Derby" , "playing partner" , "To right if facing North" , "Cardinal compass point" , "Bidder after North (bridge)" .)