The longer he pondered on the strange actions of Marufa the more he was persuaded that that wily colleague was acting upon sound information, and the tangle of his affairs made him so desperate that he decided to gamble upon that assumption: for magician Bakahenzie began to realize that Marufa had somehow scored a point and that now was approaching the crux which would determine whether he won back or lost for ever that which was the essence of life to him.
"Witch-Doctors"
Charles Beadle
The sword is the crux of the matter.
"The Sword"
Frank Quattrocchi
Jerome, particularly, with the world's eyes on his court-room, in the very crux of the Thaw trial, as if he had nothing serious to do.
"The Letters of William James, Vol. II"
William James