The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word IOWA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
I
O
W
A
More clues leading to the result IOWA
- Part of USA I love — want, not half, to go to it
- What’s oddly featured by satellite state
- State of S English county appalling at first
- Where Newport is: a US State
- . Island briefly a part of US
- British Island briefly joins American state
- Debt compiler has for Listener’s ace, one of fifty
- State protected in biowarfare
- Area south of an island state
- Area of Ohio was home to some Americans
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "one of fifty" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case one of fifty = iowa.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.