At the heart of things, friend is after money, right? (9)
I believe the answer is:
centrally
'at the heart of' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'friend is after money right?' is the wordplay.
'friend' becomes 'ally' (an ally is a friend or supporter).
'is after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'money' becomes 'cent' (eg denomination of dollars).
'right?' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'cent'+'r'='centr'
'ally' after 'centr' is 'CENTRALLY'.
'things' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for centrally that I've seen before include "Chiefly" , "in the middle" .)