Hey Folks,
In the last problem of time contrast, the first blank greg guesses the word Difficult from looking at these words " Imperiously unsparing" or something. How did he make that leap? any thoughts?
If I told you ETS designed this questions to be imperiously unsparing wouldn’t you think I was giving a warning? It just sounds so…ruthless… I’ll have to incorporate this phrase into my hyperbolics for perceived cruel and unusual tasks! 
Another clue for Blank (i ) is severe and densely forbidding poetry …
But if a case ever arrive in which you can’t put your own word or word from the question then try to eliminate options, like instead of using the find the word that fill the blank approach do the find the word that doesn’t fill the blank approach.