Clue in local paper recently. Paddle noisily in wonder (3) The answer given next day was awe. I can see awe = wonder but what's the connection with paddling noisily?
Before I read the answers it was clearly because oar sounds like aweto me. Irrelevant of accent I can't think how the two words can be anything other than sounding exactly the same.
Leaving aside the variations in pronunciation which beset homophone clues, a bigger problem for me here is 'noisily'. I see no way that 'in a clamorous fashion' can indicate 'when spoken/heard'. 'Dread noise of paddle' would be better, but still borderline in my view.