The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word RETRENCH
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
R
E
T
R
E
N
C
H
More clues leading to the result RETRENCH
- To make economies, stop going over the top?
- Try to bring up taking on shortened lease to reduce expenditure
- Trim garden centre in outskirts of Redditch
- Bring down soldiers coming to WW1 site?
- Make economies, and ditch engineers first
- Cut back sides of rare fish round river
- Make economies — and have another dig?
- Trim back ditch again
- . Fire on shelter
- Fire on soldiers at the scene of warfare
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "to reduce expenditure" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case to reduce expenditure = retrench.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 RETRENCH mean?
RETRENCH verb- To dig or redig a trench where one already exists.