The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 6 letter word SAN MARINO
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
S
A
N
M
A
R
I
N
O
More clues leading to the result SAN MARINO
- A mansion built around river in the country
- Romanians on the rampage in small republic
- Romanians could get in a state in Italy
- Romanians ransacked small republic
- Oarsman flailing about in landlocked country
- No marinas need to be built in a landlocked country
- Changed, a man irons in republic
- Unruly, as in Roman Republic
- Southern Iran and Oman formed another country
- Country health farm signior regularly attended after damage
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "small republic" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case small republic = san marino.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.