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Keeping cold, something added to food hamper (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

encumber

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'hamper' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'keeping cold something added to food' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'cold' could be 'c' (eg on taps) and 'c' is found in the answer.
'something' could be 'er' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'er' is found within the answer.
'food' could be 'e' (E is an example) and 'e' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'numb' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for encumber that I've seen before include "Be a burden to, place load on" , "Restrict or impede" , "Constrain" , "Burden with, oppress (8)" , "Saddle" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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