Called name in worthless publication (4)
I believe the answer is:
rang
'called' is the definition.
(called on the phone)
'name in worthless publication' is the wordplay.
'name' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation e.g. on forms).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'worthless publication' becomes 'rag' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'n' placed inside 'rag' is 'RANG'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rang that I've seen before include "Telephoned" , "Made a phone call" , "Phoned; did resound" , "Chimed" , "(Of bell) sounded" .)