Crossword Genius

Beloved costing a lot of money (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dear

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'beloved' is the definition.
(I know that beloved can be written as dear)

'costing a lot of money' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'lot' could be 'd' and 'd' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'er' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dear that I've seen before include "Precious" , "Beloved - expensive" , "Baby" , "pet > ducks" , "Expensive -- honey" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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