Star in wooded valley left strangled by snake (8)

I believe the answer is:

denebola

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'star' is the definition.
(I know that Denebola is a star)

'wooded valley left strangled by snake' is the wordplay.
'wooded valley' becomes 'dene' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'wooded' bit.).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'strangled by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (I've seen this in other clues).
'snake' becomes 'boa' (boa constrictor, type of snake).
'l' put into 'boa' is 'bola'.
'dene'+'bola'='DENEBOLA'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for denebola that I've seen before include "star" , "bright young dwarf" , "heavenly body" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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