The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word MONGOLIA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
M
O
N
G
O
L
I
A
More clues leading to the result MONGOLIA
- Upset record number entering target country
- Land in gaol, bizarrely, after a very short time
- Endlessly complain about odd lingo in the country
- State of Oman failing to maintain key production of oil
- Marks on top-class trademark raised around new country
- Travel with oilman at sea around part of Asia
- Unusual gloom in a remote part of Asia
- Mali goon travels around country
- Mango oil fabricated in Asian country
- Igloo man built in sparsely populated country
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "sparsely populated country" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case sparsely populated country = mongolia.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.