I was looking specifically for 8-letter words. Your list still has one: ANTIFOAM
I think it's ANTIPHON. "The carpenter" = ANT. "Perhaps, had" means a homophone of "if" = IPH. "no allergic" is an anagram of "no" = ON. "Reaction" is the def.
This post is not a puzzle. There is nothing puzzly hidden inside it or the self-answer, posted at the same time.
What exactly is a cryptic crossword clue, and how do I write one?
btw for whoever was trying to find alternate meanings for 'perhaps': (carpenter, perhaps) would be needed to get to ant (or bee) - otherwise it'd be a naked definition by example which isn't good form
i was trying to find something 5 letters for "had no" (i.e. "lacked", but shorter) to pair with ant and get something meaning an allergic reaction, but got nowhere. But that's a possibility for that pesky "had no" in there.