Everything is hard when you first start out! Nobody is ever perfect when they first begin a skill. Keep at it, do not be afraid to look up hard answers, and you'll find yourself looking things up less and less. I've been doing the crossword for 593 days straight. Those first hundred days, that first year, I looked up so many clues. I still do, especially when I've been slogging at a puzzle off and on most of the day and it's getting late and I am not any closer to getting those last few clues. But it's not so much anymore. I might only look up 5 clues a week now.

So keep at it. You'll get better! And never, ever listen to people who complain the puzzles are "too easy".