Act as a paid informer (5)
I believe the answer is:
teach
'act' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'a paid informer' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'tech' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for teach that I've seen before include "Provide learning to" , "Blackbeard" , "Impart skills or 3 down" , "Act as director" , "Coach" .)