The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 14 letter word CONSTANTINOPLE
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
C
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N
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T
A
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More clues leading to the result CONSTANTINOPLE
- Old city has loyal citizens, in for exercise
- Mobile continentals getting work in Roman capital
- Old city displaced Pole chasing stable home
- Fixed work, in building line, means capital no longer used
- Old capital has loyal citizens in for exercise
- Fixed pole in ground 23 years ago
- Work secured by continentals relocated in ancient capital
- Fixed in pole, shifted to ancient city
- Ancient city plot’s on ancient ground
- No contest! Plain stupid old city
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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.