Crossword Genius

Pays out most of cost to protect Duke (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

expends

'pays out' is the definition.

'most of cost to protect duke' is the wordplay.
'most of' means to remove the last letter.
'cost' becomes 'expense' (I've seen this before).
'to protect' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'duke' becomes 'd'.
'expense' with its final letter taken away is 'expens'.
'expens' placed around 'd' is 'EXPENDS'.

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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