Crossword Genius

Foremost of ladies always will take time to make purchase (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

leverage

'purchase' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'foremost of ladies always will take time' is the wordplay.
'foremost of' suggests taking the first letters.
'always' becomes 'ever' ('ever' can be a synonym of 'always').
'will take' says to put letters next to each other.
'time' becomes 'age' (age is a kind of time).
The first letter of 'ladies' is 'l'.
'l'+'ever'+'age'='LEVERAGE'

'to make' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for leverage that I've seen before include "Strategic advantage; large Eve (anag.)" , "Power of achievement; (US) gearing" , "Purchase" , "Power to influence" , "What crowbar provides" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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