Counsel sacrifices one for an early payment (7)
I believe the answer is:
advance
'counsel sacrifices' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to communication as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'one for an early payment' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'one' could be 'an' (an apple is one apple) and 'an' is located in the answer.
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for advance that I've seen before include "Forward - loan - make progress" , "necessary to be recognised?" , "Suggest" , "Payment ahead of due date (1'7)" , "Proceed" .)