Catches extremely hideous constricting snake (5)

I believe the answer is:

hasps

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

'catches' is the definition.
(hasp is a kind of catch)

'extremely hideous constricting snake' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'snake' could be 'asp' (asp is a kind of snake) and 'asp' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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