Wife is initially educated and clever (4)
I believe the answer is:
wise
'clever' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'wife is initially educated' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'educated' is 'e'.
'w'+'is'+'e'='WISE'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for wise that I've seen before include "Sage, knowing" , "Clever" , "Discerning" , "Having discernment" , "Sagacious" .)