Looking bright, thanks to the alcohol (3,2)
I believe the answer is:
lit up
'looking' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, past participle verbs and adjectives can sometimes mean the same thing.
'bright thanks to the alcohol' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'bright' could be 'lit' (similar in meaning) 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 understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lit up that I've seen before include "Prepared to smoke" , "was illuminating" , "Flashing" , "Drunk (as a bulb?)" , "Illuminated (by drink or drugs?)" .)