A lake in alpine country or a distant one (9)
I believe the answer is:
australia
'a distant one' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'a lake in alpine country' is the wordplay.
'lake' becomes 'L' (geographical abbreviation).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'alpine country' becomes 'austria' (I've seen this in another clue).
'a'+'l'='al'
'al' put inside 'austria' is 'AUSTRALIA'.
'or' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for australia that I've seen before include "Island continent" , "English speaking nation" , "Commonwealth country" , "Large southern country" , "Barry Humphries' birthplace" .)