Whatever happens and no matter what the pace (2,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
at any rate
'whatever happens' is the definition.
('at any rate' means whatever the outcome)
'no matter what the pace' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'no' could be 'n' (common abbreviation) and 'n' is found in the answer.
'matter' could be 'te' (Te is an example) and 'te' is present in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
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 at any rate that I've seen before include "Price thus unspecified" , "regardless of the cost?" , "if nothing else" , "regardless of the speed" , "Whatever happens" .)