Study as hard after year given 100 pounds to spend? (5,4)

I believe the answer is:

ready cash

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'100 pounds to spend?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'study as hard after year' is the wordplay.
'study' becomes 'read' (synonyms).
'as hard' becomes 'cash' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'year' becomes 'y'.
'cash' put after 'y' is 'ycash'.
'read'+'ycash'='READY CASH'

'given' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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