Hot game pets (8,4)
I believe the answer is:
tropical fish
'pets' is the definition.
The definition and answer are not the same part of speech.
'hot game' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'hot' could be 'tropical' (similar in meaning) and 'tropical' is found in the answer.
'game' could be 'fish' (fish is a kind of game) and 'fish' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tropical fish that I've seen before include "Hi for plastic (anag) - tank needed?" , "We keep them in tanks" .)