The cost of one's keep? (9,3)
I believe the answer is:
retaining fee
'the' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'cost of one's keep?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'cost' could be 'fee' (fee is a kind of cost) and 'fee' is found in the answer.
'keep?' could be 'retain' (retaining is a kind of keeping) and 'retain' is located in the answer.
'one' could be 'i' (Roman numeral) and 'i' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for retaining fee that I've seen is " Barrister could get this".)