Anonymous informant given a short stretch (1,6,4)
I believe the answer is:
a little bird
'anonymous informant' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.
'given a short stretch' is the wordplay.
'given' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'short' becomes 'little' (similar in meaning).
'stretch' becomes 'bird' (both can mean a period in jail).
'a'+'little' is 'alittle'.
'alittle'+'bird'='A LITTLE BIRD'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for a little bird that I've seen before include "one's secret informer" , "Robin could be described as" .)