Gobbles tea prepared by son (4)
I believe the answer is:
eats
'gobbles' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'tea prepared by son' is the wordplay.
'prepared' is an anagram indicator.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'son' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation for son).
'tea' anagrammed gives 'eat'.
'eat'+'s'='EATS'
(Other definitions for eats that I've seen before include "corrodes" , "Gets tucked into the cake" , "Food (slang)" , "(Consumes) food" , "Takes meals" .)