E.g. John Paul I and II taking mass in Italian city (7)
I believe the answer is:
pompeii
'city' is the definition.
(Pompeii is an example)
'e g john paul i and ii taking mass in italian' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'e' is present in the answer.
'g' could be 'm' (synonyms) and 'm' is found in the answer.
'paul' could be 'i' (where the crossword setter is 'Paul') and 'i' is found within the answer.
'i' is within the answer.
The remaining letters 'pop' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pompeii that I've seen before include "City destroyed but preserved by Vesuvius" , "City buried by Vesuvius eruption" , "town coming to a terrible end" , "Roman city destroyed in 79AD" , "Ancient Italian city" .)