Many sheets are wasted on manuscript (5)
I believe the answer is:
reams
'many sheets' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'are wasted on manuscript' is the wordplay.
'wasted' indicates anagramming the letters.
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'manuscript' becomes 'ms' (abbreviation for manuscript).
'are' with letters rearranged gives 'rea'.
'rea'+'ms'='REAMS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for reams that I've seen before include "Scrapes the barrel" , "a very large amount" , "Large quantities (of paper?)" , "This much paperwork" , "Large quantity of written matter" .)