Hope to catch rest being late and serve dinner? (3,2,4)
I believe the answer is:
lie in wait
'hope to catch' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'rest being late and serve dinner?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'rest' could be 'liein' (lie-in is a kind of rest) and 'liein' is found within the answer.
'serve' could be 'wait' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'wait' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lie in wait that I've seen before include "Prepare to attack" , "Plan for ambush" , "hover" , "Plan to attack" , "Set an ambush" .)