Hard element drive Father Christmas out of Santa Fe (4)
I believe the answer is:
iron
'fe' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'hard element drive father christmas out of santa' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'element' could be 'ir' (Ir is an example) and 'ir' is found in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'n' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for iron that I've seen before include "Smooth - driver?" , "Press - element" , "Wellington was known as the .... Duke" , "stern" , "See 14" .)