There is the phone the tots were playing with (2,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
on the spot
'there' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adverbs. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'the phone the tots were playing with' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'playing' could be 'on' (on can mean playing or performing) and 'on' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for on the spot that I've seen before include "At a particular place of action" , "In difficulty" , "straight away" , "Present at an event" , "without delay" .)