Parent circles pub, beginning to enter drunk state ... (9)
I believe the answer is:
minnesota
'parent circles pub beginning to enter drunk state' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'parent circles pub beginning to enter drunk state' is the wordplay.
'parent' becomes 'ma' (ma can mean mum or mother).
'circles' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pub' becomes 'inn' (an inn is a type of pub).
'beginning to' says to take the initial letters.
'drunk state' becomes 'sot' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The first letter of 'enter' is 'e'.
'inn'+'e'+'sot'='innesot'
'ma' going around 'innesot' is 'MINNESOTA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for minnesota that I've seen before include "American state, capital St Paul" , "US state -. of Iowa" , "North Star State" , "Nominates, oddly, the US state" , "Nominates the strange state" .)