Hard-nosed (5)

I think it could be either:

Which length description are you looking for?:

stern

'hard-nosed' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

This is the entire clue.

(Other definitions for stern that I've seen before include "Grave; rear" , "Rear of a vessel" , "Forbidding, austere" , "Strict - forbidding" , "Forbidding in aspect" .)

I've seen this clue in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

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