Capital is equal first (5)
I believe the answer is:
paris
'capital' is the definition.
(capital of France)
'is equal first' is the wordplay.
'equal' becomes 'par'.
'first' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'is' after 'par' is 'PARIS'.
(Other definitions for paris that I've seen before include "An American in - -" , "Eiffel Tower city" , "French capital - Trojan prince" , "where plaster comes from?" , "English chronicler" .)