| UGLY | Left Guy in an unpleasant situation (4) |
| CHEF | I left guy in charge to cook (4) |
| ENSNARE | Trap in an unpleasant situation |
| OGLE | Stare at in an unpleasant manner (4) |
| LEER | Look at in an unpleasant way |
| SMUG | Pleased with oneself in an unpleasant way |
| BOYZ | Guys, in an early '90s slang spelling |
| MESS | Complicated and unpleasant situation |
| RATTRAP | Desert and break up - there's an unpleasant situation (3,4) |
| BITETHEBULLET | Tackle an unpleasant situation (4,3,6) |
| FACETHEMUSIC | Brave an unpleasant situation, as conductors do (4,3,5) |
| GALERE | Word, used in Moliere's play Scapin the Schemer, for a terrible mess; a coterie of undesirable people; or, an unpleasant situation (6) |
| AMELIORATE | Make an unpleasant situation better (10) |
| RESPITE | Short break away from an unpleasant situation (7) |
| NOBONES | What forthright people make about an unpleasant situation |
| SIDESTEP | Circumvent, as an unpleasant situation |
| NOTAPRETTYSIGHT | Potty shattering, unfortunately it' s an unpleasant situation (3,1,6,5) |
| CRUMBLES | That's the way the cookie ___ idiom that means an unpleasant situation must be accepted as it is |
| REINA | This well-known Spanish goalkeeper, who turned out successfully for Liverpool and later played for various European clubs, retired at Como in May 2025 in an unpleasant manner after being sent off in h |
| PORTMANTEAUWORD | Motorcade, for example, left guy due to raw winds (11,4) |
