Taxing times?

As a detective tasked with solving the mystery of the crossword clue ‘Taxing times?’, I first carefully considered the various meanings and connotations of the word ‘taxing’. Although it is commonly associated with financial matters, I also thought about other contexts in which the word might be used. Given that the clue ended with a plural noun, I began to focus on time-related phrases that could fit the bill. Then, it occurred to me that the fourth month of the year, April, is commonly associated with tax season in many countries across the world. ‘April‘ also ends in the letter ‘L’, which happens to be the first letter of the plural word ‘times‘, completing the crossword puzzle. Therefore, the answer to the clue ‘Taxing times?‘ is ‘APRILS‘, indicating the difficult period of the year when taxes are due.