Hires a spy, shiftily (4)
I believe the answer is:
pays
'hires' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with ownership as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'a spy shiftily' is the wordplay.
'shiftily' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'a'+'spy'='aspy'
'aspy' is an anagram of 'PAYS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pays that I've seen before include "Imburses" , "Gives money for work" , "makes a profit" , "Gives money in return for something" , "Foots the bill" .)