Crossword Genius

Person on hunger strike, quite possibly, abandoning a West Country city (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

exeter

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

'a west country city' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'person on hunger strike quite possibly abandoning' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'person' could be 'ex' (ex is a kind of person) and 'ex' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for exeter that I've seen before include "South-western English city" , "See" , "Devonshire city" , "The modern Isca Dumnoniorum" , "Oxford college; city" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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