Hard case is a term used to describe a difficult situation or person. The crossword solutions for this term are SHELL (5 letters), ATTACHE (7 letters) and TOUGHCUSTOMER (13 letters). SHELL refers to a protective covering, which can be seen as a metaphor for the difficulty of the situation. ATTACHE is a French word meaning to attach or connect, which could refer to the difficulty of connecting with someone in a hard case. Finally, TOUGHCUSTOMER is a phrase that implies a difficult customer, which could be used to describe a person in a hard case.