"vegetarian food"

This is a reversal clue - look for indicators like 'back', 'returned', 'up' (in down clues), or 'west' (in across clues)

Reverse the letters of a word from the clue

Answer: PARSNIP | Definition: 'vegetarian food' | Wordplay: A reversal (‘when returning’) of PINS (‘assigns’) plus RAP (‘blame’).