The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word AMORTISE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
M
O
R
T
I
S
E
More clues leading to the result AMORTISE
- Gradually pay off in a short time, extra income restricting debt finally
- A short stretch of time criminal tries to reduce gradually
- Pay o? bit left in a payment due to new ruler
- Without alternative, as time failed to pay off house loan?
- Special deal for atomiser? Write off
- Makes it Romania’s turn, essentially, to reduce debt
- Gradually pay off pounds to a miser
- Pay off in stages, it romanticises some of those returning
- Gradually pay off estimator, otherwise lose a shirt
- Write down a suggestion almost entirely in code
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Gradually pay off" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case gradually pay off = amortise.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 AMORTISE mean?
AMORTISE verb- To alienate (property) in mortmain.
- To wipe out (a debt, liability etc.) gradually or in installments.
- To even out the costs of running an algorithm over many iterations, so that high-cost iterations are much less frequent than low-cost iterations, which lowers the average running time.