Cannonball shortly due to land (9)

I believe the answer is:

shoreward

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'cannonball shortly due to land' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'shortly due to land' is the wordplay.
'shortly due' becomes 'ward' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'land' becomes 'shore' (synonyms).
'ward' after 'shore' is 'SHOREWARD'.

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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