Cryptic crossword clue
Town where, Paul, say, managed to get 12 to retreat

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word STRANRAER

I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
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T
R
A
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Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Town" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case town = stranraer.
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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