The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 9 letter word JERUSALEM
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
J
E
R
U
S
A
L
E
M
More clues leading to the result JERUSALEM
- First person in Paris, odd, clinches deal for city
- Retrograde measure to adopt Latin introduced by Jordan’s capital city
- City in France, I trust, unwrapped fancy meal
- Japanese certain to knock back meal when roaming ancient city
- City judge putting line through revoked law
- I
- Anthem ahead of Lord’s Test? Passing round fine beer, newly heartening jingoism
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "city" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case city = jerusalem.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.