Hard, finding clubs in New York (5)
I believe the answer is:
rocky
'hard' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'clubs in new york' is the wordplay.
'clubs' becomes 'c' (abbreviation in card games).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'new' is an anagram indicator.
'york' with letters rearranged gives 'roky'.
'c' inserted inside 'roky' is 'ROCKY'.
'finding' is the link.
(Other definitions for rocky that I've seen before include "Uneven" , "Unstable - full of crags" , "Unsteady; like boulders" , "Wobbling" , "Characterised by large stones" .)