An item coming under the hammer frequently (1,3)
I believe the answer is:
a lot
'frequently' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'an item coming under the hammer' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is found within the answer.
'item' could be 'lot' (I've seen this before) and 'lot' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for a lot that I've seen before include "Significant amount" , "A good deal" , "Greatly" , "What little things mean?" , "Much" .)