Understanding 「難しいのと簡単なやつ」


In

> 難しいのと簡単なやつ、どっちがいい？
>
> Do you want the hard ones or the easy ones?

  1. Just confirming that の is nomalizing 難しい (i.e. 難しいの is equivalent to 難しいのこと here)?
  2. Is the と here "and"? (As in: is this this one of those phrases where we'd use "or" in English, but the Japanese use "and")?



  1. No, this の is a substitute for もの. 難しいもの, 難しいの and 難しいやつ are roughly the same ("difficult one(s)"), but 難しいもの is neutral to formal, 難しいの is informal, and 難しいやつ is slangy.

    * [Adjective-No in a Question format?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/61699/5010)
    * [I am confused about nominalisation and the usage of の、こと、物 after verbs and adjectives. Can someone help me?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/39032/5010)
    * [When can you use の to replace a noun?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/58550/5010)

Also note that 難しいのこと is ungrammatical. 難しいこと is correct.

  2. You are correct.

