Crossword Genius

Start to eat fare with tin cans in hamper (3,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tie down

'hamper' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'start to eat fare with tin cans' is the wordplay.
'start to' suggests taking the first letters.
'fare' becomes 'do' (synonyms).
'with' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'cans' means one lot of letters goes inside another (to can could mean to contain).
The first letter of 'eat' is 'e'.
'e'+'do'+'w'='edow'
'edow' placed into 'tin' is 'TIE DOWN'.

'in' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for tie down that I've seen before include "Restrain with ropes" , "Bind by conditions - to widen (anag)" , "Fix; bind by conditions" , "Restrict" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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