to be at a premium	to be difficult to obtain and therefore more valued
in the wake of sth	coming after or following sth
to search every nook and cranny	to look for sth everywhere
to succumb	to give up, to yield
to stipulate	to state sth clearly in a document as a condition
undertaking	an instance of deciding to do sth challenging/ a promise
thoroughly	completely, without leaving anything out
to bid	to say/ to order
to aspire	to have aspirations to do sth
to supersede	to replace, to substitute
to overwhelm	to submerge
to overdo	to exaggerate
to be hard on sb	to expect too much
uphill	difficult, requiring effort
steep	falling sharply
venue	a place of meeting
to accord	to agree
to equate sth to sth	to treat as equal
sparsely	not densely
scarce	rare, deficient
to emanate	to come or flow from sth
to disclose	to make sth known
to narrow down	to make sth shorter
to decline an offer	to refuse
to forego	to give up
to clinch a deal	to finalise
to clamp	to fasten with a clamp
to scold	to reprimend
to abuse	to insult
to set ones' sights on doing sth	to be determined to achieve sth
to put sth to sb	to suggest
befalling	happening
prudent	wise, showing good judgement
to amalgamate	to combine
twitches of nervous tension	involuntaty movements of the muscles
see-saw sensations	feelings that swing from joy to misery
exhilaration	happiness, excitement
freak	abnormal
odds	chances
in the long run	eventually
to toss a coin	to throw a coin
snag	a small problem
trait	a characteristic of one's character
on account of	because of
pitter-patter of excitement	short heartbeats due to excitement