It's expensive and going up all the time (5)
I believe the answer is:
steep
'it's expensive' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'going up all the time' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'seep' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for steep that I've seen before include "Vertiginous; excessive" , "Rapidly rising" , "over the top" , "Having a sharp incline" , "Saturate; precipitous" .)