Alarm clocks and gremlins

I have two alarm clocks: one that has been with me since I am 19 and one that I bought less than two years ago because I could not find the first one. I use them simultaneously, just in case one would not work because of low battery or old age or something. This morning, neither of the alarm clocks rang. I discovered it when I woke up by myself and feeling refreshed instead of all blurry because I am in a deep sleep and the alarms are ringing. It was 8:25. I had to take a taxi to go to work, having missed the train. I got to the office on time, or at least early enough so nobody noticed I was late. I tried them again tonight and they rang fine. So I blame the gremlins, like I always do when such inexplicable thing happens. Darn gremlins. Can you make any gremlin trap?