As paid to a person in extremes of misery? (5)
I believe the answer is:
money
'as paid to a' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'person in extremes of misery?' is the wordplay.
'person' becomes 'one' ('one' can mean an unspecified person).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'extremes of' suggests removing the centre (only the letters at the extremes of the word).
'misery' with its middle taken out is 'my'.
'one' inserted into 'my' is 'MONEY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for money that I've seen before include "Euro for example" , "Legal tender" , "The 6 [NECESSARY]" , "Currency; wealth" , "It's the root of all evil" .)