A nasty smear can spoil the paper (5)

I believe the answer is:

reams

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'can spoil the paper' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'a nasty smear' is the wordplay.
'a nasty' indicates anagramming the letters.
'smear' is an anagram of 'REAMS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for reams that I've seen before include "Large quantity of written matter" , "Lots of paper" , "Large quantities (of paper?)" , "This much paperwork" , "Scrapes the barrel" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app