Crossword Genius

Give money to assistant, to bring back particular variety of lentils (3,2)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pay up

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

'give' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with ownership as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'money to assistant to bring back particular variety of lentils' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'money' could be 'pay' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'pay' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'up' 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?

(Other definitions for pay up that I've seen before include "Give me the money!" , "Settle" , "Hand over the money" , "Discharge a debt" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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