They can be spent north from the Pennines (7)
I believe the answer is:
pennies
'they' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are plural nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'spent north from the pennines' is the wordplay.
'spent' indicates an anagram.
'north' becomes 'N' (abbreviation).
'from' is a deletion indicator.
'pennines' with 'n' taken away is 'penines'.
'penines' with letters rearranged gives 'PENNIES'.
'can be' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pennies that I've seen before include "change" , "Monetary units" .)