Times in distant past or in the old style (4)
I believe the answer is:
yore
'times in distant past' is the definition.
'yore' can be an answer for 'past' (synonyms). I'm unsure of the 'times in distant' bit.
'or in the old style' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'or' is present in the answer.
'the old' could be 'ye' (resembles a historical spelling of 'the') and 'ye' is present in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for yore that I've seen before include "Bygone time" , "Old usage for formerly, as in days of. . ." , "Yesteryear" , "Long ago (poetic)" , "Archaic word for long ago" .)