The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word ILLINOIS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
I
L
L
I
N
O
I
S
More clues leading to the result ILLINOIS
- Laid up in old island state
- Sick home movies, oddly out of state
- Midwest region’s hostile current endlessly loud
- Trouble one found with much of report in US state
- Lilo is in a decomposed state
- After I left, floor covering is in a state
- State
- Badly in love, is in this state
- Evil racket almost covering one state
- Unfortunate home — middle of floor is in a state
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "state" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case state = illinois.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.