nutcracker

Noun

nutcracker (plural nutcrackers)

1. An implement for cracking nuts.
2. Any bird of the genus Nucifraga in the crow family.
3. (New-York-City, US) A bootleg mixed drink made from a blend of alcohols and fruit juices.
   • The colorful bottles have popped up every summer in black and Hispanic communities — from the bodegas of Washington Heights to the stoops of Fort Greene — since the early 1990s. On beach boardwalks, at neighborhood basketball courts and block parties, New Yorkers are drinking nutcrackers, boozy...2019 August 17, Aaron Randle, “Banned on the Beach? It’s Still Nutcracker Summer”, in New York Times
4. (informal) Something that is difficult to figure out; a puzzle.
   • I hadn't been to school for a while so the math was a real nutcracker1978, The Laboregister, volume 2, Michigan Department of Labor, page 177

   Synonyms:

   head-scratcher