US state without an interior becomes a country (5)

I believe the answer is:

india

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'country' is the definition.
(I know that India is a Asian country)

'us state without an' is the wordplay.
'us state' becomes 'indiana' (Indiana is an American state).
'without' is a deletion indicator.
'indiana' with 'an' removed is 'INDIA'.

'interior becomes a' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for india that I've seen before include "Asian sub-continent" , "South Asian country" , "Nation, I (radio comms.)" , "Populous Asian country" , ""Bharat", locally" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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