tough nut to crack informal
hard nut to crack informal

His work, and this show in particular, is a tough nut to crack.

I've seen London before, and he's a bit of a tough nut.

Julia might be the toughest nut of the three, but I'm working on that.

He'd be a tough nut to crack if he disagreed with you.

Agreed, there are tough nuts at the work camp, but do you know how to handle them?

Human beings are tougher nuts, can doubt anything, even the evidence of their own eyes.

They're a very tough nut to crack when they've got their noses in front.

"This is really one of the tough nuts to crack," he says.

They've been working on that group for quite a while, and it's a tough nut."

This is going to be a tough nut to crack."

They look a fit, athletic team and are going to be a tough nut to crack.

News has always been a tough nut for Communist dictators.

Pro Stock is by far the toughest nut to crack.

"It's a tough nut to crack as to what Haiti needs more of."

The teen smoking problem was a tough nut to crack.

Fortunately, from the mental point of view, he's a tough nut to crack.

The obscenity issue could be a tougher nut to crack.

She was a tough nut to crack, this one.

Old reels of film, however, seemed like a tougher nut to crack.

A man who's already despaired before you ever start on him can sometimes be a very tough nut to crack.

If so, this style may remain a tough nut for the Western ear to crack.

He later became more responsive, but remains a tough nut with strangers and a quiet man even among friends.

That's one of the main reasons why this thing is such a tough nut to crack."

The digital video recorder problem, however, is a tougher nut to crack.

Apart from anything else Bill was a right hard nut.

She was going to be a hard nut to crack.

But as with many a hard nut, it's probably worth the effort.

South London's hard nuts had failed to turn up, though.

The political question, however, could be a harder nut to crack.

He's simply saying one is a harder nut to crack than the other.

That was not ideal, but this had been one hard nut to crack.

Had they not bit again and again on that hard nut these past months?

He knew a little about Coventry, too; they were hard nuts up there.

This place, however, would prove a harder nut to crack.

Schools are a harder nut, but not an uncrackable one.

Doing anything useful once he got there, however, was a harder nut to crack.

Problems piled up over the years are hard nuts to crack."

I find this a very hard nut to crack.

"At this stage we cannot rule anything out but there are going to be some really hard nuts to crack," an officer said.

This was perhaps the hardest nut of all to crack in the mystery.

Our rapporteur has given the Commission several hard nuts to crack.

"That was the harder nut to crack, if you must know.

The south magnetic pole seemed a much harder nut to crack.

Chinatown had proven a hard nut to crack, even for one such as herself.

"There are some pretty hard nuts to crack down there."

Admittedly, "Dream" has become an increasingly hard nut to crack.

Telemann is a hard nut for record collectors to crack.

A hard nut to crack, admittedly, but there won't be another chance for quite a few years.