The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 10 letter word CALIFORNIA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
C
A
L
I
F
O
R
N
I
A
More clues leading to the result CALIFORNIA
- African oil's fluid state
- Replace heads of old left in African state
- State of Carolina, if under review
- Peeling paint, profit slack, upset, in a state
- State of eastern potentate worried on air
- African oil processed in the US
- Newly-developed African oil state
- State refining African oil
- Carolina, if reformed can become The Golden State
- Hide Arab's first letter in grain in a state in America
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a state" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a state = california.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.