The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word INVERNESS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
I
N
V
E
R
N
E
S
S
More clues leading to the result INVERNESS
- Northern location where cool writer joins ship
- Popular old writer stops for vacation in UK city
- Popular French novelist's son in Scottish city
- Rum inns serve Highland city
- Fashionable French writer’s introduction to small northern city
- Fashionable French writer takes ship for northern city
- Popular sci-fi writer peripherally scans Scottish city
- Voguish French writer’s by southern Scottish city
- French writer’s visiting pianist occasionally in city
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Highland city" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case highland city = inverness.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.