To struggle clumsily or helplessly
2. to 
struggle clumsily, helplessly, or falteringly: I floundered for an... [DOC] [TLE] To struggle clumsily Mystic Words [PAR] The first clue is a very short description of the word (To struggle clumsily) and 
the second clue is the number of letters in the solution (in our case 8 letters).