When this spiky, harmonically dense work was new, in 1948, it was regarded as brutally difficult.

"Hierarchical bureaucracies are brutally difficult to change," he concluded, "particularly when the political establishment doesn't care about them."

Puzzles are clever, but some are brutally difficult.

Ten years earlier, she'd finally summoned the strength to end a nightmarish marriage that capped a brutally difficult childhood.

The puzzles are brutally difficult and require patience, mathematical ability and keen observational skills.

The going was brutally difficult.

Previous iterations have been extremely enjoyable, but brutally difficult.

His major complaints were that the game was "frustrating because your objectives are often obtuse and unintuitive and the game can be brutally difficult."

"I just think it's brutally difficult."

"Sept. 11 drives an exclamation point over the fact that it's brutally difficult for start-ups to raise funding," he said.