God takes a long time turning over ancient city (5)
I believe the answer is:
horus
'god' is the definition.
(Egyptian god)
'a long time turning over ancient city' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'over' could be 'o' (cricket abbreviation) and 'o' is located in the answer.
'time' could be 'hr' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'hr' is present in the leftover letters.
The remaining letters 'us' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'takes' is the link.
(Other definitions for horus that I've seen before include "Falcon-headed old Egyptian god" , "Egyptian hawk-headed god" , "Egyptian sun-god" , "Deity" , "Falcon-headed god of ancient Egypt" .)