Crossword Genius

Gave a fiver as a tip and wrote a message to? (4,1,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

left a note

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

'gave' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'a fiver as a tip and wrote a message to?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is found within the answer.
'to?' could be 'to' and 'to' is present in the remaining letters.
The remaining letters 'lefte' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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