This question tests your understanding of idiomatic expressions and verb forms in English grammar. Let's break it down step by step.

Step 1: Analyze the first blank

The phrase for the first blank is a common idiom. The correct, fixed expression is "to cut a long story short." This idiom means to tell the main points of a story without all the details. The other options ("having cut," "cutting") are not the standard form of this idiom.

Step 2: Analyze the second blank

The second blank describes the food. We need to understand the relationship between the food and the action (giving indigestion). The food is the thing that performed the action of giving indigestion. Therefore, we need the active form of the verb "serve." "Served" is the simple past tense, indicating the food that they provided. "Serving" would be a present participle, which is not appropriate here as it doesn't fit the past context of the story. "Being served" is a passive construction, suggesting the food was served to someone, which doesn't logically connect to it "giving" indigestion.

Final Answer: The most appropriate words to fill in the blanks are to cut and served.

A: Why didn't you enjoy your holiday?
B: Well, to cut a long story short, the hotel was dirty and the food served gave me incessant indigestion.

Related Concepts & Formulae

Idioms: An idiom is a phrase or expression that has a figurative meaning different from the literal meaning of its individual words. They are fixed expressions, and their wording cannot be changed (e.g., "to cut a long story short," "break a leg," "piece of cake").

Verb Forms (Active vs. Passive Voice):

• Active Voice: The subject of the sentence performs the action.
  Example: The chef cooked the food. (The chef performed the action of cooking)
• Passive Voice: The subject of the sentence receives the action.
  Example: The food was cooked by the chef. (The food received the action of being cooked)

In the sentence, "the food served..." uses a reduced passive relative clause. The full clause would be "the food that was served..." which is passive because the food received the action of being served. However, the subsequent verb "gave" is in the active voice, where the food (the subject) performs the action of giving indigestion.