I was able to get this one OK. However like you sometimes when I am stumped I have to put the puzzle aside for a couple of hours and then come back to it. That works every time. However once in a blue moon I may have to put the puzzle aside for a 2nd time.
When I’m stumped, I plug it into Hal, and it works every time. Almost always, the most frequent letter is “E”...This time Hal didn’t work.
When I saw the two words with the same ending, it told me, it has to be one of only three or four.