Criminal nominates place to find St Paul (9)

I believe the answer is:

minnesota

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'place to find st paul' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'criminal nominates' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates anagramming the letters.
'nominates' anagrammed gives 'MINNESOTA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for minnesota that I've seen before include "US state, capital St Paul" , "Superior neighbour" , "US state -. of Iowa" , "Nominates for American state" , "North Star State" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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