Work on river location across the way (8)
I believe the answer is:
opposite
'across the way' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'work on river location' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'on' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'river' becomes 'Po' (Italian river).
'location' becomes 'site' (site is a kind of location).
'op'+'po'+'site'='OPPOSITE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for opposite that I've seen before include "Directly facing each other" , "Face to face or directly contrary" , "reverse, in fact" , "Rival" , "Corresponding" .)