WASHINGTON — In the seventh hour of questioning this week — after a practiced bit from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” but before the meditation on duck-sized horses — the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch veered, somehow, to the matter of mutton busting.

Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, wanted to hear about the Denver rodeo. And Judge Gorsuch, elusive all week as Democrats have strained to pinpoint his judicial leanings, turned instantly expansive.

“Mutton busting, as you know, comes sort of like bronco busting for adults,” he began on Tuesday. “You take a poor little kid, you find a sheep and you attach the one to the other and see how long they can hold on.”

He went on.

“…You know, it usually works fine when the sheep has got a lot of wool and you tell them to hold on — I tell my kids hold on monkey-style, you know? Really get in there, right? Get around it…”