adj. 25B6; adjective
a knotty legal problem : COMPLEX, complicated, involved, intricate, convoluted, involuted; difficult, hard, thorny, taxing, awkward, tricky, problematic, troublesome.
knotty roots : GNARLED, knotted, knurled, nodular, knobbly, lumpy, bumpy.
a knotty piece of thread : KNOTTED, tangled, tangly, twisted, entangled, snarled, matted.
straightforward.