Crossword Genius

Inebriated anglers lacking energy to make knots (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gnarls

'knots' is the definition.
(I know this)

'inebriated anglers lacking energy' is the wordplay.
'inebriated' indicates anagramming the letters (inebriated can mean drunk, suggesting disorder).
'lacking' suggests deleting specific letters.
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mc2).
'anglers' with 'e' taken out is 'anglrs'.
'anglrs' anagrammed gives 'GNARLS'.

'to make' is the link.

(Another definition for gnarls that I've seen is " Knots in trees".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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