Take the top from stovetop and pepper with holes (6)
I believe the answer is:
riddle
'take' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to thinking as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for riddle that I've seen before include "Ingenious puzzle - sieve" , "Sphinx's conundrum?" , "Difficult problem or coarse sieve" , "Puzzling question - sieve" , "unsolved problem" .)