Broken hood cable

It really depends on how and where the cable is broken. If it broke at the control side, you should be able to grab the core with a pair of pliers to open it. If it is broken at the other end, you are going to have to get creative to try to access the latch itself, possibly from underneath. There is no magic answer or easy trick for that. You just need some sort of long tool to try to push the release lever on the latch.