Yeah, this was a stretch.
Deleting “e” from “honey” is fine. “All over” is also fine. But the “appendage” fodder is too much of a stretch - it’s a crossword clue, not a cryptic clue. They needed a synonym indicator near it for it to be a cryptic.
In my experience synonym indicators are the exception, not the standard.
Even more so when the clue fodder is set up as a charade type.
I also find with minute cryptic that the only hint I typically need is the fodder one. From that, I can almost always suss out the definition and the wordplay indicators.
I find it interesting that the fodder hint counts the same as the others. Especially considering the definition hint gives absolutely no other help. You still have to figure out which is the fodder and which is the wordplay indicators.
If I don’t solve it with 0 hints I almost always solve it with the fodder being shown.