Tusked animal chewing edges of townee’s hat (6)
I believe the answer is:
boater
'hat' is the definition.
(boater is a kind of hat)
'tusked animal chewing edges of townee's' is the wordplay.
'tusked animal' becomes 'boar' (boars have tusks).
'chewing' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are chewed).
'edges of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'townee' with its centre removed is 'te'.
'boar' going around 'te' is 'BOATER'.
(Other definitions for boater that I've seen before include "(Of exercise) improving oxygen intake" , "one going in the junk?" , "Hat style" , "Hat; eg, rower" , "Stiff hat made of straw" .)