Initially take blame for chops (4)
I believe the answer is:
trap
'chops' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'initially take blame' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
'blame' becomes 'rap' ('rap' can be a synonym of 'blame').
The first letter of 'take' is 't'.
't'+'rap'='TRAP'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for trap that I've seen before include "Part of a snare" , "Part (anag.)" , "one would be ill advised to enter?" , "Deceive" , "that may be sprung?" .)