Prepared girl at hand to finish things gradually (5,2,1,4)

I believe the answer is:

grind to a halt

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'finish things gradually' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'prepared girl at hand to' is the wordplay.
'prepared' indicates an anagram.
'girl'+'at'+'hand'+'to'='girlathandto'
'girlathandto' anagrammed gives 'GRIND TO A HALT'.

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(Other definitions for grind to a halt that I've seen before include "Slow gradually, then stop completely" , "Become unable to move any further" , "Run out of steam" , "Cease to make progress" , "Come to a standstill" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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