Crossword Genius

Spooner's rocky nation, you might say, is independent (5-5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stand-alone

'might say is independent' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'spooner's rocky nation you' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'you' could be 'one' (I've seen this before) and 'one' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

(Another definition for stand-alone that I've seen is " operate independently".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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