This makefile still fails:
.PHONY: all
all: lib.a( a.o)
(%.o): %.o
echo $@ $<

make 3.81 gives what I would expect:
lib.a a.o

make 3.82, with the comment #1: corrections, gives:
make: * No rule to make target `lib.a()', needed by `all'.  Stop.

make 3.82 fails to parse a dependency 'util.a(foo.o bar.o)', as demonstrated by the attached self-contained Makefile. Whereas this Makefile works fine with 3.81, 3.82 yields:
  * No rule to make target `util.a(foo.o', needed by `util.a'