State of a girl in the US (8)
I believe the answer is:
virginia
'state' is the definition.
(I know that Virginia is a American state)
'a girl in the us' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'girl' could be 'vi' (short for Violet) and 'vi' is present in the answer.
'in' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for virginia that I've seen before include "Girl" , "US state; type of tobacco" , "state (in Havana)" , "US state named in honour of Elizabeth I" , "Variety of creeper, bright red in Autumn" .)