From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishplay (merry) hell with somethingplay (merry) hell with somethingBritish English informalSTOP something THAT IS HAPPENING to make something stop working or happening as it should The cold weather played hell with the weekend sports schedule. → hell
Examples from the Corpus
play (merry) hell with something• Strangulation was all very well, but it played merry hell with the eyeballs.• Ace's proximity was playing hell with her hormones. 