Asked piteously about bird with deformed limbs (3-6)
I believe the answer is:
bow-legged
'deformed limbs' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs occasionally define each other.
'asked piteously about bird' is the wordplay.
'asked piteously' becomes 'begged' (begging is a kind of asking. I am not sure about the 'piteously' bit.).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'bird' becomes 'owl' (owl is a kind of bird).
'begged' enclosing 'owl' is 'BOW-LEGGED'.
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for bow-legged that I've seen is " Bandy".)