Stretched out in the shade, long to (7)
I believe the answer is:
reached
'stretched out in' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'shade long to' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'long' could be 'ache' (to long for something is to ache for it) and 'ache' is found in the answer.
'shade' could be 'red' (red is a colour or shade) and 'red' is located in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for reached that I've seen before include "Cad here (anag.)" , "Came to (a place)" , "Stretched or arrived" , "Attained" .)