Morse, sorry to disappoint, from the BAe 146 AFM, page 1 of section 4.21.1,
The critical engine is the outer engine on the upwind side
.
av8a, if on the 146 you consider the outer left engine as being #1, and for this exercise, the wind coming from the left.
Should #1 fail, the subsequent yaw will be to the left ( one engine producing thrust LHS, two engines RHS). Until airborne, the wind from the left will strike the left side of the aircraft. With more surface, including the vertical stabiliser, aft of the CoG, the resultant yaw will also be to the left.
The critical engine is that one whos failure has the
most adverse effect on controlability of the aircraft, in the scenario I've described, #1 is the critical engine.