Joy driving vehicle through pouring rain (7)
I believe the answer is:
nirvana
'joy driving' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'vehicle through pouring rain' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'vehicle' could be 'van' (van is a kind of vehicle) and 'van' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'rain' is 'nira' which is located in the left over letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nirvana that I've seen before include "Buddhist paradise or hereafter" , "serene place" , "US rock band" , "Iran van (anag) - blissful state!" , "religious state" .)