The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 plus 3 plus 4 letter word MONEY FOR OLD ROPE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
M
O
N
E
Y
F
O
R
O
L
D
R
O
P
E
More clues leading to the result MONEY FOR OLD ROPE
- Easy reward from getting on line?
- Do refer monopoly for review – it’s making cash too easily
- Transplant donor pool — my free way to a quick buck
- One poorly formed arrangement to make easy profits
- Tie up pension in advance to get return for little effort
- Revenue from ancient tower? Cash coming with little effort
- Only food emperor chewed: a piece of cake?
- Profit easily made from food only emperor ordered
- Easy pickings from food only emperor ordered
- Sinecure financing oakum purchase?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "easy profits" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case easy profits = money for old rope.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.