Artificial ham built fat without a hitch (5,1,4)
I believe the answer is:
thumb a lift
'artificial ham built fat without' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'a hitch' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'hitch' could be 'thumb' (hitch-hiking) and 'thumb' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'lift' 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 thumb a lift that I've seen before include "Hitchhike" , "Attempt to get a ride in vehicle" .)