I was first up around hot metropolis (5)
I believe the answer is:
delhi
'metropolis' is the definition.
(Delhi is an example)
'i was first up around hot' is the wordplay.
'was first' becomes 'led' (to lead is to go first).
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hot' becomes 'h' (abbreviation eg on taps).
'i'+'led'='iled'
'iled' back-to-front is 'deli'.
'deli' enclosing 'h' is 'DELHI'.
(Other definitions for delhi that I've seen before include "Indian state" , "New -, Asian capital" , "Indian territory" , "Ancient city" , "Plumbing ring" .)