___ gotta be kidding me!

YOUVE

This phrase often follows a surprising or frustrating moment, like when someone plays an unexpected prank—think of the missing word as a contraction you’d shout in disbelief.

This clue plays on the common exasperated phrase "You've gotta be kidding me!" The answer drops the space and apostrophe to fit crossword style, turning "you've" into "YOUVE." It’s a straightforward fill-in-the-blank where the missing word is the contraction for "you have," often used in frustrated outbursts. The clue relies on the solver recognizing the casual, spoken phrase.