Possible Clues:

• 'How the trees are made short, in a manner of speaking (5)'
• Monosyllabic, perhaps
• Effectively concise
• 'The steer is a Gaelic one, in a manner of speaking (5)'
• Curt — abrupt
• Trees in bits that sound short
• Like headlines
• Short and not so sweet
• Succinctly worded
• Hardly rambling