Orientating car hopelessly in unfamiliar area (5,9)
I believe the answer is:
terra incognita
'unfamiliar area' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both locations as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'orientating car hopelessly' is the wordplay.
'hopelessly' is an anagram indicator.
'orientating'+'car'='orientatingcar'
'orientatingcar' is an anagram of 'TERRA INCOGNITA'.
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for terra incognita that I've seen before include "country that's never been surveyed" , "riots in strange land" , "Unknown territory" , "unsurveyed land" , "abode of monsters once - with 17d" .)