A critical juncture is a moment in time when a decision must be made that will have a significant impact on the future. It can also refer to a period of time when a situation is particularly tense or uncertain. The crossword solutions for this term are CUSP (4 letters), CRISIS (6 letters), ZEROHOUR (8 letters), CRUNCHTIME (10 letters), and POINTOFNORETURN (15 letters). CUSP refers to a point of transition, CRISIS implies a difficult or dangerous situation, zero hour is the time of an attack or other event, crunchtime is a period of intense pressure, and point of no return is a situation from which there is no escape.