Figure a piece of wax is far from firm (3)
I believe the answer is:
lax
'far from firm' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'figure a piece of wax' is the wordplay.
'figure' becomes 'l' (I've seen this in other clues).
'a piece of wax' becomes 'ax' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'l'+'ax'='LAX'
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lax that I've seen before include "Not taut" , "Careless or slack" , "Loose or immoral" , "Remiss" , "without tension" .)