At first, the obsession with conventional degrees will be a hard nut to crack.

FORBES: Free Education Is A Meme Whose Time Has Come

England scented a rout, but found the sixth-wicket combination of Mashud and Mushfiqur a hard nut to crack.

BBC: SPORT | Cricket | Ban v Eng 2003 | England take control

Many companies have tried and failed to break the US market, but it has proved a hard nut to crack for UK retailers.

BBC: US Tesco brand Fresh & Easy 'wasn't aspirational'

Of course, breaking into schools is a hard nut to crack.

FORBES: Tech Startup CodeHS Aims to Bring Computer Literacy to High Schools

"The Hard Nut, " an alternative take on the ballet by the Brooklyn-based Mark Morris Dance Group featuring groovy 1960s dance moves and a remote-controlled rat, canceled performances in Berkeley, Calif.

WSJ: Nutcracker Inc.

This is a hard nut to crack.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

We hear so much about the dangers of skin cancer, or the more mundane problem of wrinkles and skin deterioration, that it almost seems hard to believe anybody would have a real nut-brown year-round tan, says Mary Killen, who writes the Spectator's Dear Mary column.

BBC: Can a fake tan ever be classy?

It is hard to dismiss somebody as a right-wing nut if they spend more time talking about education than anything else and if they steal many of their best ideas from Democrats.

ECONOMIST: The timing of the shrub | The