The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word PRESTON
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
P
R
E
S
T
O
N
More clues leading to the result PRESTON
- Northern city quickly attracting any number
- City, supremely faultless, knocking out United — no upset
- City break with awful smell around, not good
- Quick! Name a town in northern England
- City, close to championship, continue to be relaxed?
- Suddenly new city
- Funny person entertaining first of tourists in English city
- Fast descending on N Lancs town
- Immediately name English city
- Quickly getting to northern city
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "city (as of 2002)" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case city (as of 2002) = preston.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.