A crutch is a figure of speech that describes
something that is used as a surrogate or substitute for a more ideal solution or approach, as in the use of
medical crutches as an assistance device for walking. The term also implies a degree of habitual
laziness.
"A debugger is a crutch for programmers too
lazy to add proper logging to their applications."
"Using pre-made pancake
mix instead of making it from
scratch is a crutch."