Tie a man in knots with lively effect? (7)
I believe the answer is:
animate
'lively effect?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I can't see how they can define each other.
'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' with letters rearranged gives 'ANIMATE'.
'with' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for animate that I've seen before include "Eat main (anag.)" , "Make lively like cartoon" , "Inject life into, as with cartoon" , "Liven up" , "Bring to life, like cartoon" .)