Liberal in unhappiness but not in spending (7)

I believe the answer is:

miserly

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'liberal in unhappiness but not in spending' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'liberal in unhappiness' is the wordplay.
'liberal' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'unhappiness' becomes 'misery' (misery is a kind of unhappiness).
'l' placed inside 'misery' is 'MISERLY'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for miserly that I've seen before include "Like Scrooge" , "Mean, tight" , "Parsimonious" , "Niggardly" , "Penny-pinching" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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