Nice tan refreshed in the distant past (7)

I believe the answer is:

ancient

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'distant past' is the definition.
'ancient' can be an answer for 'past' (thesaurus). I'm not certain of the 'distant' bit.

'nice tan refreshed' is the wordplay.
'refreshed' indicates an anagram.
'nice'+'tan'='nicetan'
'nicetan' anagrammed gives 'ANCIENT'.

'in the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ancient that I've seen before include "Old salt in Coleridge's poem" , "over the hill" , "so old-fashioned" , "Shakespearean standard-bearer" , "Veteran" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.

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