Think about why pal is upset about it (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
play with
'think' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to thinking as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'why pal is upset about it' is the wordplay.
'is upset' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'are upset' mean this).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'why'+'pal'='whypal'
'whypal' is an anagram of 'playwh'.
'playwh' placed around 'it' is 'PLAY WITH'.
'about' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for play with that I've seen is " Consider (without deep thought)".)