Run rings round picnic? (5)
I believe the answer is:
outdo
'run' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to competing as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'rings round picnic?' is the wordplay.
'rings' becomes 'oo' (multiple circles).
'round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'picnic?' becomes 'utd' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'oo' enclosing 'utd' is 'OUTDO'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for outdo that I've seen before include "Perform better than surpass" , "Surpass - overshadow - excel" , "Cap" , "Surpass someone at something" , "Get the better of" .)