nina

nouncommon in dialogue

A hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword.

noun

1
A hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword.
The puzzle itself was fairly easy however there was an elegant nina based on the middle entry (INSIDE STORY) in which each of the across answers hid a synonym of "story", e.g. 5A and 6A were: STABle gendER.
Ninas may or may not be present and, even if one is there, it can go unnoticed because, not being intrinsic to the solution, its presence is not advertised—or because it is so well hidden.
Other “personal” ninas are happier and subtler: birthday wishes to loved ones, which, ultimately, have only one intended reader

Etymology

From the name Nina, taken from the cartoonist Al Hirschfeld's habit of hiding his daughter Nina's name in his drawings.

Forms

plural: ninas

nil · Nothing; zero.Nile · A large river in Africa, usually considered to be the longest…Niles · A surname.

nina · A hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword.

Nina · A female given name in continuous use since the 19th century.NINA · A NINA loan.nine · A numerical value equal to 9; the number following eight and…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.