1) Final and unhappy outcome 2) Final extremity 3) Final unpleasant moment 4) Final unpleasant moments 5) Last ditch 6) Player with a grudge 7) Regrettable conclusion 8) Scornful gridder 9) The end of any chain or cable 10) Unhappy outcome 11) Very last moment 12) What some fight until Found on https://www.crosswordclues.com/clue/bitter-end
[novella] `Bitter End` is the first Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, originally published in the November 1940 issue of The American Magazine. The story is a re-working of Stout`s Tecumseh Fox story Bad for Business, published later that year. `Bitter End` first appeared in book form in the posthumous limited-edition collection Cors... Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_End_(novella)
the conclusion of a difficult or unpleasant situation; the last or furthest extremity: Despite the unpleasant scenes in the movie, she insisted on staying until the bitter end. · · the inboard end of an anchor chain or cable, secured in the chain locker of a vessel. · the end of any chain or cable. Found on https://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/bitter-end