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aristo, yes we are hiking tomorrow - about ten miles with one of the local ramblers' groups.

Thanks, Bullfrog.
On second thoughts the ITV reference was superfluous and may have put some people off. I only mentioned it because S.C. works for ITV.

Thanks Francis. In that case how does the PAR____Y element work?

Rambler - sorry, I wasn't implying that your anagrind was in the wrong place. That was an incidental addition to pastille's knowledge base. I may be wrong, but I can only recall having seen LE (the French) used as it stands, rather than part of the anagram.

p@, if you haven't seen it, have a look at Big Dave's explanation of the rules of cryptic crosswords:
http://bigdave44.com/crosswords/cryptic-crosswords-the-rules/

Thanks, Bullfrog - I thought I was in even more trouble! I admit I pushed it with that clue and although I was apprehensive about asking for opinions, I'm glad I did.

Hi folks; couldn't get near a computer yesterday. Would have voted for Francis as well. Well done!

Bullfrog:
PARY = unruly invocation PRAY

Several problems with that - it's an indirect anagram (as discussed), the anagrind is not adjacent to the fodder, and invocation is a noun, but pray is a verb.

I stand corrected.
Obviously must not give up my day job.

I hope you won't mind me poking my nose in your thread, as I didn't take part in the competition, but the stuff about clue construction is interesting.

A while ago, I was lucky enough to get "A Clue to Our Lives" courtesy of the Guardian. This is what it says about indirect anagrams:

“Indirect anagrams are forbidden. For example, ‘Graduate never ordered plant (7)’ for VERBENA is illegitimate as you have to first guess that graduate is BA before doing the anagram; but ‘east’ to put an E into an anagram is OK. Just”

I know that the Guardian is not necessarily the last word in clue-setting, but its puzzles must count amongst the most respected by users of this site.

What a pleasant surprise, peterm. Is "A Clue to Our Lives" restricted to crossword puzzles, or might pastille find advice regarding her slug problem there too? I'll have to google it...