Animal giving sailor problem after work (7)
I believe the answer is:
opossum
'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sailor problem after work' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'os' (ordinary seaman).
'problem' becomes 'sum' (arithmetic problem).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'os'+'sum'='ossum'
'ossum' after 'op' is 'OPOSSUM'.
'giving' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for opossum that I've seen before include "American and Australian marsupial, often abbreviated" , "American marsupial with prehensile tail" , "American arboreal marsupial" , "American and Australian marsupial, often with the first letter dropped" , "Small Australian marsupial" .)