A novel set in Spain cut corners (5)
I believe the answer is:
skimp
'cut corners' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a novel set in spain' is the wordplay.
'a novel' becomes 'kim' (Rudyard Kipling novel).
'set in' indicates putting letters inside.
'spain' becomes 'sp' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'kim' inserted inside 'sp' is 'SKIMP'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for skimp that I've seen before include "Spare" , "Provide too few resources on grounds of economy" , "Try to economise" , "tighten one's belt" , "save" .)