He bargains about carpeting (10)
I believe the answer is:
earbashing
'carpeting' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are present participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'he bargains about' is the wordplay.
'about' is an anagram indicator.
'he'+'bargains'='hebargains'
'hebargains' with letters rearranged gives 'EARBASHING'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for earbashing that I've seen before include "Torrent of abuse" , "lecture" , "Dressing down" , "lengthy speech" , "severe scolding" .)