Skimpy and paltry, about a grand (6)
I believe the answer is:
meagre
'skimpy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'paltry about a grand' is the wordplay.
'paltry' becomes 'mere' (I've seen this before).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a grand' becomes 'ag' (I've seen this in other clues).
'mere' placed around 'ag' is 'MEAGRE'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for meagre that I've seen before include "Scanty in amount - puts me in rage" , "Lacking in quantity/quality" , "Stingy - thin" , "weak" , "'Stingy, skimpy (6)'" .)