The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word SALT MARSH
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
S
A
L
T
M
A
R
S
H
More clues leading to the result SALT MARSH
- Key adversely affects stuffing pipe down bog
- Coastal area sailor damages with wash that hasn’t existed?
- Recklessly harms last coastal ecosystem
- Key warmonger invades quiet area with sea inlet?
- Flooded coastal area halts arms trade
- Bog spoils start of hike following attempt to reduce slippiness
- Old sailor damages hot saline boggy area
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "area with/sea inlet" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case area with/sea inlet = salt marsh.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.