Name the city to lay waste! (7)
I believe the answer is:
destroy
'lay waste' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'name the city' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'name' could be 'des' and 'des' is located in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'roy' 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).
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for destroy that I've seen before include "Soundly defeat" , "Kill; ruin" , "Get rid of" , "Ruin or defeat roundly" , "Flatten" .)