The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word GROTTO
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
G
R
O
T
T
O
More clues leading to the result GROTTO
- Rubbish in front of cave
- Cave not entirely unpleasant? Nothing more
- Mostly unpleasant round small cave
- Annoyed about recommendation at first that’s a little hollow
- Underground place, mostly nasty and hot on the inside
- Rubbish to put in fancy hollow?
- Santa's place having rubbish toys? Not half
- Attractive cave reached round river
- Not entirely unpleasant, old cave
- Chamber gets dirt on Blair, his right wing having deserted
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "It’s left on Dec 24 by Santa and his reindeer" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case it’s left on dec 24 by santa and his reindeer = grotto.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does GROTTO mean?
GROTTO noun- A small cave.
- An artificial cavern-like retreat.
- A Marian shrine, usually built in a cavern-like structure.
- A local organization of cavers that typically organizes trips to caves and provides information and training for caving; a caving club.
- (Satanism) A secretive name for a local group of underground Satanists.