Crossword Genius

Brownie fairly short of money? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

fairy

'brownie' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'fairly short of money?' is the wordplay.
'short of' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'money?' becomes 'l' (L can mean 'pounds').
'fairly' with 'l' taken out is 'FAIRY'.

(Other definitions for fairy that I've seen before include "Eg, Tinkerbell" , "sort of story?" , "eg Puck" , "Tinker Bell was one" , "Cobweb, perhaps" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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