Actors Sean and Ms Kristel taking in a northern state (12)
I believe the answer is:
pennsylvania
'state' is the definition.
(Pennsylvania is an example)
'actors sean and ms kristel taking in a northern' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is present in the answer.
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is present in the answer.
'northern' could be 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland) and 'n' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pennsylvania that I've seen before include "State of NE? USA" , "State of NE US" , "State of northeastern US" .)