Levels the score and quits (5)
I believe the answer is:
evens
'levels' is the definition.
(I know this)
'score and quits' is the wordplay.
'score' becomes 's' (this could be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'quits' becomes 'even' (as in 'call it quits').
's' after 'even' is 'EVENS'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for evens that I've seen before include "Oddly, these could be odds" , "Likelihood" , "square" , "Kind of bet where odds are one to one" , "Presses" .)