House carpet needing constant ____? (9)
I believe the answer is:
hoovering
'needing constant ?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'house carpet' is the wordplay.
'house' becomes 'ho' (abbreviation for house).
'carpet' becomes 'overing' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ho'+'overing'='HOOVERING'
(Other definitions for hoovering that I've seen before include "Domestic chore" , "sucking up" .)