Elegantly smart acquaintance paid a pittance (11)
I believe the answer is:
chickenfeed
'a pittance' is the definition.
(both can mean a very small amount of money)
'elegantly smart acquaintance paid' is the wordplay.
'elegantly smart' becomes 'chic' (synonyms. I am not sure about the 'elegantly' bit.).
'acquaintance' becomes 'ken' (ken can what one is aware of or acquainted with).
'paid' becomes 'feed' (I've seen this before).
'chic'+'ken'+'feed'='CHICKENFEED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chickenfeed that I've seen before include "mash, perhaps?" , "Not much money - for the birds" , "Very small amount of money" , "Small potatoes" , "very little money" .)