1. Present participle and gerund of puzzle

puzzling

1. Difficult to understand or explain; enigmatic or confusing; perplexing.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:

     Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes. […] But withal there was a perceptible acumen about the man which was puzzling in the extreme.

• German: verwirrend, rätselhaft
• Italian: misterioso, enigmatico
• Portuguese: intrigante, desconcertante, confuso

puzzling (plural puzzlings)

1. Time spent pondering something confusing.