The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word ALGERIAN
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
A
L
G
E
R
I
A
N
More clues leading to the result ALGERIAN
- Metal weave in gear from part of Africa
- African with some spice wrapped in sugar?
- Doctor in a large African native
- Sugar-coated Ginger Spice from the Maghreb?
- African man embracing one of the Spice Girls
- North African ordered new regalia
- Subject in a large settlement
- African moving about in a glare
- Certain African arranged real gain
Buddy explains!
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.