we finally borrowed a hacksaw from the park people and sawed through it in an amazingly short time (in fact we were all frankly flabbergasted in how short a time-especially him as he had bought it recently with the assurances that it was very strong)
The GF lost the key to a u lock that was being used in conjunction with a pretty new, thick Kryptonite cable to secure our road bikes in the house. (Had a bike stolen out of the house so we lock things up inside.) A mechanic from a LBS made a house call toting the shop's small, cheap, made in China hand cutter. Took him about 3 min. to cut through the cable. Would have taken much less time had be brought the good cutter. We were amazed at how the right tool can defeat a solid cable in no time.