Exhilarated seeing books on the top shelf? (3,2)
I believe the answer is:
lit up
'exhilarated' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'books on the top shelf?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'books' could be 'lit' (abbreviation for literature) and 'lit' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'up' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'seeing' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lit up that I've seen before include "Started smoking - being drugged!" , "Flashing" , "Prepared to smoke" , "Drunk (informal)" , "like a bulb, perhaps?" .)