Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to succeed, to overcome obstacles, esp. to achieve a successful (from the male point of view) seduction or win at gambling.

1935		C. Drew ‘Thirsty’s Christmas Box’ in Bulletin 25 Dec. 41/1: ‘I think I’ll take a trot up to the hazard school [...] a man might crack it for a couple of bob’.
1942		L. Bennett ‘Rackit’ in Jam. Dialect Poems 9: It is a wicked rackit! / Dem bwoy dah gwan too bad yaw mah, / An smady haffe crack it!
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 30: I’d cracked it first when I was sixteen. [Ibid.] 32: He told me, [...] he had cracked it with Pearl, too, about the same time as me.
1963		(con. 1944) L. Glassop Rats in New Guinea 115: You wouldn’t even crack it with a nymphomaniac.
1967		N. Dunn Poor Cow 113: I can’t crack it, I can’t seem to crack it this stretch.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxiii 4/4: crack it: To have a win. Score with a sheila.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 131: Lend us five until I crack it. [Ibid.] 261: crack it Have a win at gambling.
1981		J. Sullivan ‘A Slow Bus to Chingford’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Yes one more steak meal could crack it.
1989		R.G. Barratt ‘So Why Doesn’t Jack the Lad Get a Real Job?’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] Colleen McCullough and Thomas Keneally [...] have cracked it overseas.
1998		R.G. Barrett Goodoo Goodoo 51: You could do all right at the races tonight. You might just crack it at the punt.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 220: He’s telling us he’s cracked it in here, mate.
2000		R.G. Barrett Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] I hope she cracks it [i.e. writing] and makes a bundle.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 284: Stevie thought he’d cracked it one minute, dead the next.

2. to do, to perform; usu. in form crack it for a...

1962		J. McNeill How Does Your Garden Grow? (1974) 127: ‘How’d yer crack it for this?’.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 120: By not cracking it for a chat with the screws [...] you were blowing your chances of work-release or parole.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 108: Mr Foster asks Marshall's father if he wants to kick in for a pressie, but Mr Marshall can't even crack it for a smile.
1998		R.G. Barrett Goodoo Goodoo 188: Cooktown’s a nice place, just bad luck I cracked it for some dud weather.

3. to obtain, to get hold of, poss. by criminal means.

1967		N. Dunn Poor Cow 24: One day after Dave had cracked it for a few hundred he took Joy down Woolworth’s and they bought up half the shop.
1973		(con. 1930s) F. Huelin ‘Keep Moving’ 2: A ’bo can go for weeks without cracking it for a deener.