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Is it always incorrect to use a synonym's homophone in a clue as my Clueless #3? - I suspect it is but I'd like confirmation.

I would appreciate the explanation of your clue, rambler!

I would guess it's in the same vein as a ghost anagram Rambler, however, it could be deemed as Double wordplay & Def. OR, Cryptic wordplay/Def
It's a good question and certainly food for thought, wonder what the others think

Chris,

Keen is synonymous with Eager,
Eager/Eagre is a Tidal Bore

Thanks, les!

Thanks for your opinion, les. If anybody else comments I'll certainly take it on board.

I don't see where the homophone is, rambler, unless you mean eager/eager- but those are variant spellings of the same word. I guess I don't think it's quite fair to use a synonym for a word that's a synonym for the answer when the synonym in the clue isn't a synonym for the answer itself. (I know- very messy, but when you try to streamline it it's even more confusing, and that's basically the point.) It's indeed rather like the ghost anagram, which usually uses a synonym as fodder. When you know what the answer is you can see it, but when you don't you might find that finding it is impossible.

O heck, I'm sorry - it's very good of you to take the time to answer.
I had forgotten the 'eager' spelling and assumed the word was 'eagre' so I was using keen/eager as synonyms and using 'say'as homophone indicator to get 'eagre' as def.
I hope that explains my original post - I'm sorry I asked!

I meant eager/eagre, of course. Why are you sorry you asked? Don't you like convoluted answers?

No, aristo, I meant that I was sorry to ask what turned out to be a daft question because I missed the 'eager' spelling.