The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word JAMAICA
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
J
A
M
A
I
C
A
More clues leading to the result JAMAICA
- Stationary traffic at main road around island
- Preserve trunk road around Caribbean island
- Some of WI marmalade maybe American spies when over
- Island‘s very good on the surface — stick around!
- Preserve area of land, reportedly, on isle
- Preserve an icon cleric acquired initially in the Caribbean
- Was she forced by you to speak for the country?
- Trouble first-class accountant in the West Indies
- Judge, one replacing monarch in US island
- About to go on main road, on solid traffic island
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "in the West Indies" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case in the west indies = jamaica.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.