The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word BRUSSELS
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
B
R
U
S
S
E
L
S
More clues leading to the result BRUSSELS
- Sound measures to seize half Russian's capital
- Rub injured lower back before beginning to shampoo a carpet
- Capital has less urban parts coming from the south
- City over in Europe’s less urbanised
- Union’s base turned smaller during brief skirmish
- Smudged, rubs less for capital
- European city that’s less urban, somewhat regressive
- Nonsense about English director cutting one line in scene of The Singing Nun
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a carpet" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a carpet = brussels.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.