Amid the bird food, a dog must be safely tied up (7)
I believe the answer is:
secured
'tied up' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'amid the bird food a dog must be safely' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'food' could be 'e' (E is an example) and 'e' is located in the answer.
'dog' could be 'cur' (both can mean a despicable person) and 'cur' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sed' 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).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for secured that I've seen before include "attached to lead?" , "Made safe or fastened safely" , "Obtained" , "all tied up?" , "Apprehended" .)