Charlie was in debt, and subdued (5)
I believe the answer is:
cowed
'subdued' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'charlie was in debt' is the wordplay.
'charlie' becomes 'c' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'was in debt' becomes 'owed' (I've seen this before).
'c'+'owed'='COWED'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for cowed that I've seen before include "Subdued, kept under" , "Intimidated, subdued" , "Browbeaten" , "Overawed" , "Subdued in bovine way?" .)