The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word SEATTLE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
E
A
T
T
L
E
More clues leading to the result SEATTLE
- Country mansion let out in American port
- Associate sharing seat in port
- Pay collecting article in US city
- Coastal city having marine name I overlooked
- Land ringing a city in north-west America
- Put down roots around a US city
- To keep off alcohol, mostly locked away port
- Put down roots outside a West Coast City
- Latte brewed in extremely suave city
- What colonist will do, having captured a foreign city
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "city in north-west America" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case city in north-west america = seattle.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.