Crossword Genius

Extra place by ancient city in South America (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

surplus

'extra' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'city in south america' is the wordplay.
'city' becomes 'Ur'.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'south' becomes 'spl' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'america' becomes 'US' (abbreviation for the United States).
'ur' placed into 'spl' is 'surpl'.
'surpl'+'us'='SURPLUS'

'place by ancient' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

(Other definitions for surplus that I've seen before include "unnecessary" , "(An) oversupply" , "Excess, extra" , "Amount left over" , "Unneeded extra" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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