Thus short measure is easy and well paid (4)
I believe the answer is:
soft
'thus short' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'measure is easy and well paid' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'measure' could be 'ft' (ft is a kind of measure) and 'ft' is present in the answer.
'well' could be 'so' (both can mean extremely) and 'so' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for soft that I've seen before include "Lenient; not coarse" , "(Of drink) non-alcoholic" , "firm? On the contrary" , "Native of Riyadh" , "Gentle - malleable" .)