I tend to have the "comments are an apology" mindset, where I will write a comment to apologize if something is partially implemented, counter-intuitive, driven

I tend to have the "comments are an apology" mindset, where I will write a comment to apologize if something is partially implemented, counter-intuitive, driven by a byzantine external requirement, or an ugly workaround to someone else's bug. Those can totally be essential, as they will save someone (your future self, maybe) from attempting to refactor them to something simpler/cleaner that won't actually work.