Does anyone know of any good ways to get good at algebra without as much"grind" as doing hundreds of questions a night

A certain amount of repetition is necessary for proficiency. It seems to me that it is better to have a good understanding of how to solve a few problems of a given type rather than to mindlessly solve billions and billions of problems. By this I mean: How does each step in the solution help you get closer to a solution for the problem? Is there a reason the steps are done in this order or could they be done in some other order?

It does not matter so much how long the first problem of a given type take. This supposes we are talking about minutes, not years. What matters is that once you start on a new type of problem you have the means to get proficient in a reasonable length of time.

Watch the videos here: http://www.khanacademy.org/#algebra