Payment for motley crews (5)
I believe the answer is:
screw
'payment' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'motley crews' is the wordplay.
'motley' indicates anagramming the letters (motley can mean varied or different).
'crews' with letters rearranged gives 'SCREW'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for screw that I've seen before include "wages" , "made tight by driver?" , "Prison officer - salary" , "Threaded pin" , "Wage - prison officer" .)