Crossword Genius

Suitable, very soft covering of hay (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

happy

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'suitable' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'soft covering of hay' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'soft' could be 'pp' (musical abbreviation for pianissimo) and 'pp' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'hay' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'very' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for happy that I've seen before include "A not so low" , "Joyous" , "Pleased; fortunate" , "One of the Seven Dwarves" , "Doc's smiling pal" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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