Chum, say, keeps near sons to watch them (4-3)
I believe the answer is:
baby-sit
'chum say' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'near sons to watch them' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'near' could be 'by' (near means close by) and 'by' is located in the answer.
'sons' could be 's' and 's' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'bait' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'keeps' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for baby-sit that I've seen before include "Look after young children" , "Mind small children while parents have a night out" , "Take charge to allow parents to go out" , "Look after youngsters" , "Look after children temporarily" .)