Yen merits getting longs (6)
I believe the answer is:
yearns
'longs' is the definition.
('yearn' can be a synonym of 'long')
'yen merits getting' is the wordplay.
'yen' becomes 'y'.
'merits' becomes 'earns' (I've seen this before).
'getting' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'y'+'earns'='YEARNS'
(Other definitions for yearns that I've seen before include "'Hankers, longs (6)'" , "Longs for, pines" , "Craves, longs intensely" , "Desires strongly" , "'Craves, longs for (6)'" .)