The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word WISCONSIN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
W
I
S
C
O
N
S
I
N
More clues leading to the result WISCONSIN
- State of wife — is at home full of tricks
- Triumph, confining prisoners on island state
- US state's unfulfilled desire to get right-wingers elected
- State wife is opposed to immorality
- Sun is among western symbols popular in state
- Is in toilet dealing with son in a state
- State is stopping John working? Wrong!
- State Swiss banks neglected fraud crime
- State in North or West is opposed to wickedness
- Caribbean prisoners detained in wrong state
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "State in North" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case state in north = wisconsin.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.