Investigator locates married American friends in Arab country (9)
I believe the answer is:
ombudsman
'investigator' is the definition.
(I know that ombudsman is a type of investigator)
'married american friends in arab country' is the wordplay.
'married' becomes 'm' (abbreviation, e.g. in genealogy).
'american friends' becomes 'buds' (I've seen this in another clue. I am not sure about the 'american' bit.).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'arab country' becomes 'oman' (I've seen this in another clue).
'm'+'buds'='mbuds'
'mbuds' going within 'oman' is 'OMBUDSMAN'.
'locates' is the link.
This may not be correct. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ombudsman that I've seen before include "Public official" , "one appointed to investigate complaints" , "Commisioner" , "Commissioner investigating complaints by the public" , "Government appointee who investigates complaints" .)