A foreign saint (5)
I believe the answer is:
santa
'a foreign saint' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'a foreign saint' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is found within the answer.
'saint' could be 'st' and 'st' is found in the leftover letters.
A single letter 'a' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for santa that I've seen before include "The present chap" , "Man with sack" , "St Nicholas" , "bringer of gifts" , "patron at Christmas" .)