Is there an obvious trick to 8a that I'm missing? I've been staring at it for longer than I'd care to admit... Edit: by "8a", I mean the puzzle that leads to 8

Is there an obvious trick to 8a that I'm missing? I've been staring at it for longer than I'd care to admit... Edit: by "8a", I mean the puzzle that leads to 8a ("get out your notepad")