Compact newspaper? That's novel (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
hard times
'novel' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'compact newspaper?' is the wordplay.
'compact' becomes 'hard'.
'newspaper?' becomes 'times' (The Times is an example).
'hard'+'times'='HARD TIMES'
'that's' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hard times that I've seen before include "Ma dithers about title of Dickens novel in tough period" , "Dickensian chronicle" , "Stealers of things" , "Possibly description of our crossword" , "Book by Dickens" .)