Beast offering hot money for an article (5)
I believe the answer is:
hyena
'beast' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hot money for an article' is the wordplay.
'hot' becomes 'h' (abbreviation eg on taps).
'money' becomes 'yen' (Japanese currency).
'for' says to put letters next to each other.
'an article' becomes 'a' (the indefinite article in English).
'h'+'yen'+'a'='HYENA'
'offering' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hyena that I've seen before include "Wild animal" , "Its howl sounds like laughter" , "African carrion-feeder" , "Carrion-feeding carnivore" , "Laughing mammal?" .)