Make short work of cream puff for a start (5)
I believe the answer is:
skimp
'make short' is the definition.
'skimp' can be an answer for 'short' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'make' bit.
'work of cream puff for a start' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'cream' could be 'skim' (synonyms) and 'skim' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'p' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for skimp that I've seen before include "Cut corners" , "Use less to economise" , "Be mean towards" , "hasty" , "Expend less in an attempt to economise" .)