Crossword Genius

A retired man from a foreign land (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

alien

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'foreign land' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'a retired man from a' is the wordplay.
'a retired' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'man' becomes 'neil' (man's name).
'from' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'neil'+'a'='neila'
'neila' backwards is 'ALIEN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for alien that I've seen before include "24a [ESTRANGE]" , "coming from overseas" , "Foreign; extraterrestrial" , "Belonging to a foreign country" , "of foreigners" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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