Crossword Genius

Arrest Charlie, poking e.g. Saudi in row improperly (5,1,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

catch a crab

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'row improperly' is the definition.
'catch a crab' can be an answer for 'row' (thesaurus). I am unsure of the 'improperly' bit.

'arrest charlie poking e g saudi' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'arrest' could be 'catch' (synonyms) and 'catch' is located in the answer.
'charlie' could be 'c' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.) and 'c' is present in the answer.
'saudi' could be 'arab' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'arab' is located in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for catch a crab that I've seen before include "Make bad oar stroke" , "row ineptly" , "Make a bad stroke in rowing" , "Have a bad row" , "Meet a sourpuss" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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