The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word GERMANY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
G
E
R
M
A
N
Y
More clues leading to the result GERMANY
- Some attached to beginning a nation of Europe
- Note principal features of European referendum: a good deal for the country
- Infectious article absorbed by country
- Country bug -—doesn’t matter which
- Start overlapping with lots in country
- European country without any cause of disease
- Led by 15 and central to the 22, but out of my range
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a nation of Europe" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a nation of europe = germany.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.