Getting it to clear up, and eye relief are two different things. Is the focus ring set to your eye?, are you playing with the parallax adjustment? My VXIII 8.5-25X50 LR, has to be set at the magnification I shoot at most, then eye relief set. The distance between max and min that you have to move your eye, is my only beef with this scope, you just gotta put it where you shoot the most and adjust your cheek weld at all other magnifications. The side focus is another minor beef, as you have to run it to infinity, then back it down to focus without going too far, or you will have to start the process all over again.
My post is assuming you have AO or SF on the scope. Regardless, the focus ring is always the first thing adjusted to get crysal clear x-hairs while looking at the sky. After that, the scope will only be parallax free at 150yrds, (without parallax adjustments that is).