In staircase design, it’s novel to the Spanish (5)
I believe the answer is:
newel
'in staircase design' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'novel to the spanish' is the wordplay.
'novel' becomes 'new' ('new' can be a synonym of 'novel'**).
'to the spanish' becomes 'el'.
'new'+'el'='NEWEL'
'it's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for newel that I've seen before include "Support post for stair rail" , "Main post supporting handrail on stairs" , "(Of a flight) upright post" , "Central pillar of a spiral staircase" , "Yucatan native" .)