The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word PATAGONIA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
P
A
T
A
G
O
N
I
A
More clues leading to the result PATAGONIA
- American region, area thrice opting out
- Secretary travelling again to arid tableland
- Southern Region has a name for plunging in dagger? No way
- Move into a gap on western flank of Andes — to get here?
- River's got a name, flows in a desert
- Father moving again to part of South America
- Again a top novel from Southern part of Argentina
- Dad receiving a tip on current part of South America
- Old man travelling again to arid tableland
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Southern Region" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case southern region = patagonia.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.