Green’s Dictionary of Slang

cack-handed adj.

clumsy, awkward.

1923		Manchon Le Slang 77: cack-handed, adj. C. gaucher.
1955		M. Allingham Beckoning Lady 91: I never met such a kack-handed jackass in all my born days .
1961		Spectator 22 Sept. 384: An insanely slothful or cack-handed publican.
1961		R.S. Close With Hooves of Brass 117: ‘I could’ve stitched it on again. That’s more than any of you cack-handed bastards could do’.
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 385: I’ve adopted a particular policy against violence that may strike one as a right cack-handed way of doing it.
1983		Hibberd & Hutchinson Baracker’s Bible 41: cackhanded G Maladroit.
1995		I. Rankin Let It Bleed 105: Rico was just about the best and worst housebreaker on the east coast. It wasn’t that he was cack-handed.
1995		Canberra Times 20 Sept. 22/1: The grounds staff won a famous victory. The Arbitration Commission tipped an enormous bucket over the ANU for failure to negotiate properly, and for generally cack-handed conduct of the dispute.
2009		Observer Mag. 1 Feb. 7/2: [Her] cack-handed attempts to cover up her extramaritial mistake are, at least, understandable.
2011		Observer 24 July 🌐 I see his strange way of approaching things from the side, slightly awkwardly, but [...] not cack-handedly so.
2016		Guardian Guide 13 Feb. 15/1: A series of cack-handed social experiments.