I'm with you too. Puzzles have indeed been more difficult lately, and my wife (redridinghood) agrees. Been one or two words shy so many times, only to discover I had missed the easiest ones (got FREED but not FREE!). As the puzzles get more challenging, I tend to look for longer words first. Will go back to putting in the easy ones first, then adding letters (past tense, plurals in -ies or ii, prefixes & suffixes etc.). Or setting a limit/goal, either time spent or number of common words found. Bonne chance et bon courage!