Seedy article to smile about (5)
I believe the answer is:
grain
'seedy article to smile about' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'article to smile about' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'a' (indefinite article).
'to smile' becomes 'grin' (grinning is a kind of smiling).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a' placed within 'grin' is 'GRAIN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for grain that I've seen before include "Smallest measure of weight in avoirdupois" , "Small piece of sand" , "Structure of wood" , "Small hard seed of corn etc" , "Character" .)