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What's an idiom for getting right to the most important point?

Someone clever/wise always gets right to the heart of the matter. An educator who understands their audience perfectly and always says exactly what needs to be said when it needs to be said. An educator who knows exactly what issues their audience is having without needing to be told, and gets right on with addressing those issues.

Something like "stabbing at the heart of the matter."

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Get down to brass tacks

to start talking about the most important or basic facts of a situation:

Let's get down to brass tacks. Who's paying for all this?

Another idiom you could use is get down to the nitty-gritty.

the basic facts of a situation:

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty - how much will it cost?

[Cambridge Dictionary]

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There are two aspects to what you're describing and I am not sure you can combine them in the same idiom.

  1. You say

someone who understands their audience perfectly and always says exactly what needs to be said when it needs to be said.

That's the definition of being to the point:

expressing something very important or suitable for the subject being discussed:

  • Her comments on my work were very apt and to the point. (Cambridge)

Free dictionary elaborates a bit more:

  1. Relevant, concerning the matter at hand, as in
  • Her remarks were brief and to the point [Early 1800s] For an antonym, see beside the point.
  1. Concerning the important or essential issue. This usage is often put as come or get to the point , meaning address the important issue. For example,
  • Please come to the point; we haven't much time, or
  • Do you suppose he'll ever get to the point of all this? [Late 1300s]
  1. But the quality of character of getting straight to the point is pretty well expressed by a phrase you use:

get/cut to the heart of the matter or cut to the crux of the matter

The essential point or problem is the crux. People are always trying to get to the crux of a matter or the crux of a problem, while others try to distract them.

The noun crux is often followed by the phrases "of the matter" or "of the problem." When people are trying to identify the crux of something, it's like they want to get to the heart of it. They want to peel back the layers and find out what something is really all about or what is causing the problem. No more beating around the bush! (Vocabulary)

Crux is defined by Cambridge

the most important or serious part of a matter, problem, or argument.

Other variants include: Get to the nub of the matter, or get down to the nuts and bolts

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