Crossword Genius

Too much to pay for the raising of pets out East (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

steep

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'too much' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'of pets out east' is the wordplay.
'of' indicates anagramming the letters (the answer comes from or 'of' the letters).
'out' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'east' becomes 'E' (synonyms).
'pets' anagrammed gives 'step'.
'step' placed around 'e' is 'STEEP'.

'to pay for the raising' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for steep that I've seen before include "Marinate" , "Precipitous - outrageous" , "Unreasonably dear - soak" , "Sharply inclined" , "Lofty" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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