>>509122283I remember having that experience with multiple puzzles but after solving them, it always turned out that I had made a wrong assumption when trying to solve it.
What usually helped was a sleeping on it a day or two and the solution seemed obvious right away after that. But even though I learned that I often wanted to continue my spree and kept experimenting frustratedly.
Which is fine I guess because the Witness can certainly benefit from playing it over a longer period of time to let the ideas sink in.