Over-subtle play on words gets money penalties (8)
I believe the answer is:
finespun
'over-subtle' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'play on words gets money penalties' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'play' could be 'pun' (pun is a kind of play) and 'pun' is found within the answer.
'penalties' could be 'fines' (fine is a kind of penalty) and 'fines' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for finespun that I've seen before include "Excessively subtle" , "Highly subtle" , "Over-subtle" .)