Stick to policy: don't put the phone down (4,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
hold the line
'stick' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'policy don't put the phone down' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'policy' could be 'line' (as in the party line) and 'line' is located in the answer.
'put' could be 'the' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'the' is located in the answer.
'down' could be 'd' and 'd' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hold the line that I've seen before include "don't cave in!" , "Wait for someone on the phone" .)