Daphne paid regularly in advance (5)
I believe the answer is:
ahead
'in advance' is the definition.
('ahead' can be a synonym of 'in advance')
'daphne paid regularly' is the wordplay.
'regularly' means one should take alternating letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'daphne'+'paid'='daphnepaid'
The alternating letters of 'daphnepaid' are 'AHEAD'.
(Other definitions for ahead that I've seen before include "In the future" , "at pole" , "In the leading position" , "likely to win?" , "advanced" .)