Thus strengthened and comforted (7)

I believe the answer is:

solaced

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'comforted' is the definition.
('solace' can be a synonym of 'comfort')

'thus strengthened' is the wordplay.
'thus' becomes 'so' (synonyms).
'strengthened' becomes 'laced' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'so'+'laced'='SOLACED'

'and' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for solaced that I've seen before include "Comforted" , "Consoled" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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