Payment, say, for including a popular piece (6)
I believe the answer is:
salary
'payment' is the definition.
(I know that salary is a type of regular payment)
'for including a popular piece' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'piece' could be 'r' (abbreviation for Rook) and 'r' is found in the answer.
'popular' could be 'lay' (synonyms) and 'lay' is present in the leftover letters.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'say' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for salary that I've seen before include "that's usually banked" , "Regular income from employment" , "Monthly pay" , "Fixed regular payment of work" , "Annual pay" .)