Payment for motley crews (5)
I believe the answer is:
screw
'payment' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'motley crews' is the wordplay.
'motley' indicates an anagram (motley can mean varied or different).
'crews' with letters rearranged gives 'SCREW'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for screw that I've seen before include "wages" , "made tight by driver?" , "Prison officer - salary" , "Threaded pin" , "Wage - prison officer" .)