Goddess embracing limitless Sahara; a vast desert region (8)

I believe the answer is:

kalahari

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'a vast desert region' is the definition.
'Kalahari' can be an answer for 'region' (Kalahari is an example). I'm not certain of the 'a vast desert' bit.

'goddess embracing limitless sahara' is the wordplay.
'goddess' becomes 'kali' (I've seen this before).
'embracing' is an insertion indicator.
'limitless' means to look at the middle letters.
The central letters of 'sahara' are 'ahar'.
'kali' going around 'ahar' is 'KALAHARI'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for kalahari that I've seen before include "SW African desert" , "Southwestern African desert" , "Desert of south-west Africa" , "Southern African desert" , "In very dry area" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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