Cryptic crossword clue
Criminal case led to clean up, resulting in loss of deposit 7

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word DESCALE

I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
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Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "clean up, resulting in loss of deposit" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case clean up, resulting in loss of deposit = descale.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

What does DESCALE mean?

DESCALE verb
  1. To remove scale from the surface of a metal, especially from the inner surfaces of boilers etc.
  2. To remove the scales from a fish etc.

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