[Xymon] Can't match alerts.cfg rules

I have 4.3.27-1.el7.terabithia running on Centos 7, and can't get any rules in alerts.cfg.to match and fire an alert.

I have in hosts.cfg:

192.168.2.31 phone-sales # conn

In alerts.cfg:

HOST=phone-sales COLOR=red MAIL somebody at gmail.com

Wildcard rule

HOST=%^.*$ COLOR=red MAIL somebody at gmail.com

Made the wildcard rule a regexp because "HOST=*" wasn't working, and added the host-specific rule because no wildcard was working. But if I trigger a red on host phone-sales, in alert.log I see:

Checking criteria for host 'phone-sales', which is not yet defined; some alerts may not immediately fire

What am I missing? I retired a year and a half ago, and have been out of practice, so feel free to start with "You dummy...."