Tie a man in knots as you produce the action (7)
I believe the answer is:
animate
'you produce the action' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'tie a man in knots' is the wordplay.
'in knots' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'tie'+'a'+'man'='tieaman'
'tieaman' is an anagram of 'ANIMATE'.
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for animate that I've seen before include "Inspire" , "Enliven, inject energy into" , "Make lively like cartoon" , "Living" , "Put life into as with cartoon" .)