American tree-climbers work abroad, getting amounts of money (8)
I believe the answer is:
opossums
'american tree-climbers' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'work abroad getting amounts of money' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'abroad getting' becomes 'os' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'amounts of money' becomes 'sums' (I've seen this before).
'op'+'os'+'sums'='OPOSSUMS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for opossums that I've seen before include "Small, furry, Australian marsupials" , "American marsupials" , "Mainly arboreal marsupials" , "animals" , "American natives" .)