The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word COSTA RICA
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
C
O
S
T
A
R
I
C
A
More clues leading to the result COSTA RICA
- Fellow celeb originally idolised around mountainous state
- Country actor sharing top role in cinema appearance first of all
- Setter introduced to fellow performer around country
- Republic in which Castro deceiving CIA nuts
- Country with value on continent
- Tropical country‘s price has one fuming aloud
- Country station in part of France son avoided
- Came to continent, when missing fine country
- Nation source of drug, big name I imported
- Country starts to impose crippling austerity after Castro’s broadcast
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Republic" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case republic = costa rica.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.