Crossword Genius

Maybe main church leader's love supplanted by ego (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pipe

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'maybe main' is the definition.
'pipe' can be an answer for 'main' (thesaurus). I'm unsure of the 'maybe' bit.

'church leader's love supplanted by ego' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'ego' could be 'i' ('I' in Latin) and 'i' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ppe' 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 pipe that I've seen before include "Fluid or gas transporter" , "Tube, maybe musical" , "Part of an organ; tube" , "Main provider" , "Tube with bowl for smoking tobacco" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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