The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word NUTSHELL
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
N
U
T
S
H
E
L
L
More clues leading to the result NUTSHELL
- In the Netherlands sleuth cocked up a hard case
- Crazy and terrible situation in which you’ll find Hazel?
- In this, essentially head’s torment
- Bananas above bottomless pit in fruit container
- Crazy nightmare might be the case for Brazil
- Crazy nightmare
- Ridiculous suffering that’s hard
- Mad, bad place in which the truth resides?
- Diminutive hard case headbutts man over £50
- It briefly holds story in crazy ordeal
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "that’s hard" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case that’s hard = nutshell.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does NUTSHELL mean?
NUTSHELL noun- The shell that surrounds the kernel of a nut.
- A short book summarizing an area of law.
- To summarize (from the term in a nutshell).