Crossword Genius

Touch upon a stitch with fresh insertion (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

appertain

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'touch' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with fundamental existence as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'a stitch with fresh insertion' is the wordplay.
'stitch' becomes 'pain' (I've seen this in another clue).
'with' is an insertion indicator.
'fresh insertion' becomes 'pert' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'pain' placed around 'pert' is 'ppertain'.
'a'+'ppertain'='APPERTAIN'

'upon' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for appertain that I've seen before include "Concern" , "Belong, relate (to)" , "Be relevant to" , "Bear on" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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