The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word ANNAPOLIS
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
A
N
N
A
P
O
L
I
S
More clues leading to the result ANNAPOLIS
- City on a plain wrecked by first of storms
- An Italian city and southern capital
- An Italian city and southern US port
- Breaking record, work returned is for state capital
- Maryland capital area on plains destroyed
- One Italian city’s a state capital
- Crusader against corruption radioed cops in the state capital
- . Arranged loan, Spain gets capital
- Loan Spain foreign capital
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a state capital" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a state capital = annapolis.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.