The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word DUBAI
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
D
U
B
A
I
More clues leading to the result DUBAI
- Name Arabian capital, one — such as this?
- Name key island Emirate
- This person, a chum turns up in port
- American friend turns up with excellent port
- A pal in New York tipping one crude source
- ME port of call: capital
- New York chum served up excellent port
- Name given to excellent city
- Going the wrong way, I shoot around a capital city
- Carry out purchase picked up in city
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "city of Arabia" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case city of arabia = dubai.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.