Touring Rhode Island, old lover carries minute scarlet flag (9)
I believe the answer is:
oriflamme
'scarlet flag' is the definition.
(historical French battle flag)
'touring rhode island old lover carries minute' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'island' could be 'i' and 'i' is found within the answer.
'old' could be 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English) and 'o' is found in the answer.
'minute' could be 'm' (abbreviation) and 'm' is found in the answer.
'lover' could be 'flame' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'flame' is present in the remaining letters.
A single letter 'r' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
(Other definitions for oriflamme that I've seen before include "Knight's standard (hist.)" , "Banner" , "French flag" .)