Welcome to our ongoing attempt to solve the cryptic clues for which PG Wodehouse gave no answers. In the novel Something Fishy, poor Lord Uffenham is left without the assistance of his butler Keggs to struggle with Times clues as various plots, financial and romantic, unfold around him.

So far, we have looked at …

Naked without a penny has the actor become

… which we are happy is the actor Edmund KEAN and …

So the subordinate professional on trial gets wages in advance not without demur

… which we think is probably PAY UNDER PROTEST and …

No see here, it's a sort of church with a chapter

… which has not produced a consensus. Personally, I'm unsure about the routes that take us to freemasonry and the front runners are TEMPLE via a cryptic definition; TABERNACLE, via an indirect but amusing route and a kind of sister candidate in CARTE BLANCHE (an anagram of "tabernacle" around CH).

I'm most persuaded by the simpler CACHE (CE for "Church of England" around A and CH for "chapter"). This interpretation has Wodehouse using "see" as misdirection given the ecclesiastical surface reading. It's not perfect, but clues written by novelists seldom are: see also Martin Amis. Of course, you may feel other clues are better, even if not as "right".

And we must continue! The next clue comes when, as is often the case, Lord Uffenham is waiting for his niece Jane with some trepidation:

One glance at his niece Jane as she entered the study where he sat trying to ascertain what the composer of his crossword puzzle meant by the words 'Spasmodic as a busy tailor', had been enough to tell his practised eye that she was ratty, hot under the collar and madder than a wet hen.

We can only hope that this time Wodehouse yields his secrets from beyond the grave more readily.

Rules

• One piece of wordplay or suggested definition at a time.

• No leaping ahead to the other clues in the story.

• Wild speculation is as welcome as precision.

• Explanations of any out-of-date abbreviations, people or vocabulary very welcome.

• Alternate answers that fit the definition and wordplay very welcome, even if obviously inaccurate.

So, one piece at a time: what might "Spasmodic as a busy tailor" mean?