The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word ESTONIA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
E
S
T
O
N
I
A
More clues leading to the result ESTONIA
- A site with no ground or land
- One not returning into rough sea somewhere on the Baltic
- Land turning into sea
- Land to the west excellent — north west?
- Migrant is not welcomed by each country
- Land crumbling into sea
- Turn sea into land
- Anarchic Senorita disregarding king and country
- Land, not sea, I recollected
- Country school visited by son near Iowa
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "land in northern Europe" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case land in northern europe = estonia.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.