Bitter about the north, hailing from Dixie? (8)
I believe the answer is:
southern
'from dixie?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'bitter about the north' is the wordplay.
'bitter' becomes 'sour' (I've seen this before).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'north' becomes 'N' (abbreviation).
'sour' enclosing 'the' is 'souther'.
'souther'+'n'='SOUTHERN'
'hailing' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for southern that I've seen before include "From below the Mason-Dixon Line" , "Of Counties Cork and Kerry, say" , "away from the north" , "-- Cross, constellation" , "Towards the Antarctic" .)