Strange area beyond short county line (7)

I believe the answer is:

surreal

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'strange' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'area beyond short county line' is the wordplay.
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'beyond' says to put letters next to each other.
'short county' becomes 'surre' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'line' becomes 'l' (used when specifying particular lines from a poem).
'a' put after 'surre' is 'surrea'.
'surrea'+'l'='SURREAL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for surreal that I've seen before include "Like the paintings of Rene Magritte" , "Daliesque" , "Odd" , "RA rules (anag.)" , "Weird - like Dali's paintings?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.