Throughout Los Angeles hills, ants ultimately stripped ground (3,5,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
all along the line
'los angeles hills ants ultimately stripped ground' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'throughout' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'throughout' could be 'along' (I've seen this before) and 'along' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for all along the line that I've seen before include "stations might be found" , "on the London Underground?" , "At each stage < from A to B" , "at every point" , "Where sleepers are found" .)