>>A 'nooptimize' option per clause expression is a good idea too.
>
>I don't like the NOOPTIMIZE option: what I am striving for (in many cases) is PARTIAL optimization. No R.Optimization would mean that ALL RECORDS have to be retrieved, whereas Full R.O. would mean (in some cases) retrieving almost all INDEX KEYS. With Partial R.O., both things can be avoided. In some cases, at least.

Am I misreading or misunderstanding???

You don't like the idea of having the capability to say NOOPTIMIZE for a specific WHERE clause (or JOIN clause) expression?
Something like
SELECT. . . . WHERE ... AND Sex = m.ApplicantSex NOOPTIMIZE OR ...
would cause a problem? I must be missing something.

JimN