Shining land (6)

I believe the answer is:

alight

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'shining land' is the definition.
'alight' can be an answer for 'land' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'shining' bit.

'shining land' is the wordplay.
'shining' becomes 'a' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'land' becomes 'light' (lighting is a kind of landing).
'a'+'light'='ALIGHT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for alight that I've seen before include "Land, come down" , "Settle; on fire" , "in flames" , "Burning; get down" , "Burning; descend" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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