Ordered telecoms firm to accept diamonds - to settle this? (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
bad debt
'settle this?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'ordered telecoms firm to accept diamonds' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'diamonds' could be 'd' (abbreviation for the card suit diamonds) and 'd' is located in the answer.
'ordered' could be 'bade' (past tense of 'bid' as in to order) and 'bade' is found within the leftover letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bad debt that I've seen before include "Write it off - it's uncollectible" , "Unrecoverable sum of money owed" , "Irredeemable liability" , "Money loaned that cannot be recovered" , "Money owed that is unlikely to be repaid" .)