Where old man's SEAT is picked up for crook? (5,3)
I believe the answer is:
below par
'picked up for crook?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'where old man's seat is' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'old' could be 'o' (abbreviation) and 'o' is found in the answer.
'is' could be 'be' and 'be' is present in the answer.
'man' could be 'r' (abbreviation for rook, a chess piece or 'man') and 'r' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for below par that I've seen before include "Lower than the average, as in golf score ( 5, 3)" , "Out of sorts" , "Not in full health" , "Worse than expected" , "Not up to usual standard, like golfer" .)