Far into a journey a thirsty traveller welcomes it (4,2,3,3)

I believe the answer is:

well on the way

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'far into a' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'journey a thirsty traveller welcomes it' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'journey' could be 'way' (way is a kind of journey) and 'way' is located in the answer.
'it' could be 't' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis) and 't' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

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I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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