Enemy leader of old, iron-clad? (3)
I believe the answer is:
foe
'enemy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'leader of old iron-clad?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'leader' could be 'f' (I have seen 'German leader ' mean 'f' so perhaps 'leader' could also mean 'f') and 'f' is found within the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'e' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for foe that I've seen before include "Antagonist" , "Someone opposing" , "Evil rival" , "Adversary" , "Am archaic enemy" .)