The cry for me to start work (3)
I believe the answer is:
mew
'the cry' is the definition.
(mew is a kind of cry)
'me to start work' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'me' is present in the answer.
'work' could be 'w' (physics abbreviation) and 'w' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mew that I've seen before include "Cat's sound" , "Sound made by a cat" , "Seagull" , "Animal sound" , "Make sound like cat, or a gull" .)