Manifestation of a French department receiving thanks (6)
I believe the answer is:
avatar
'manifestation' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Divine manifestation ' mean 'avatar' so perhaps 'manifestation' could also mean 'avatar')
'a french department receiving thanks' is the wordplay.
'french department' becomes 'var' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'receiving' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'thanks' becomes 'ta' (UK informal version of 'thank you').
'var' placed around 'ta' is 'vatar'.
'a'+'vatar'='AVATAR'
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for avatar that I've seen before include "Descent to earth of deity in human or animal form" , "New embodiment of a familiar idea" , "Archetype" , "Incarnation; film (2009)" , "Blockbuster film" .)