Have ready for the hen to use as a nest (3,2)
I believe the answer is:
lay on
'have' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'ready for the hen to use as a nest' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'ready' could be 'on' (if a device is on it is ready for use) and 'on' is located in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lay on that I've seen before include "Provide (something)" , "Provide (food, etc)" , "instruction for Macduff" .)