Cryptic crossword clue
Said dismal king trapping foreign character, one who was grounded 5,3

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 letter word GREAT AUK

I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
G
R
E
A
T
A
U
K

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "one who was grounded" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case one who was grounded = great auk.
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.

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