Often times the fastest way to debug is to write it wrong, write it wrong again, find an example where somebody wrote it right, write that wrong in your own file, then figure out what you changed to adapt it that made it go wrong.

If anyone remembers middleschool mathematics this is the coding example of the teacher making you write out the equations in their longest form instead of shortcutting. It's done this way because it shows you your exact train of thought and where you went wrong. That sticks in your head. You understand the problem by understanding yourself. Giving up after twenty minutes instead of stopping, clearing your active cognitive load, and then coming back erases your ability to understand that train of thought.

For a comparison it's like being in first person view in a videogame, and the only thing you have is the ability to look behind you, versus being able to bring up a map that has an overhead view. In first person you're likely to lose where exactly you went to get where you are, while with the overhead view map you can orient your traveled route according to landmarks and distance.