They said that not only had Mr. Hoffman not hinted privately of his retirement plans, but that just two weeks ago he presided over a presentation for publishers in Manhattan, talking confidently about the chain's future.

But the day this bout was announced last summer, he privately hinted why.

His aides hinted privately that they were looking for ways to resume economic assistance to Indonesia, which has effectively been frozen.

Officials of relief groups hinted privately that just such sensitivity might have motivated Mr. Ibrahim's outburst and said they stood by their assessments of Niger's problems.

Mandela has "privately hinted he will step down once a final constitution has been written and he has overseen the country's first steps towards reconciliation," the paper said, citing ANC insiders.

The newspaper quoted ANC sources as saying Mandela has "privately hinted he will step down once a final constitution has been written and he has overseen the country's first steps toward reconciliation."

Some Republicans hinted privately that they felt embarrassed by the policy turnaround because they had been defending the president's resistance to price controls.

Admiral Caius Fesidas pushed off in a sluggish state, ably supported by Lieutenant Eugene Marasco, whose job, he hinted to Kirk privately, was to see that the admiral got home to bed safely, without causing himself or Starfleet Command any embarrassment.

That's not what happens on every production, however: the amount of "interpretation" an animator employs varies hugely from film to film, and many professionals privately hint that they are doing rather more work than they're getting credit for.

One is of the defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran, in a rare moment of non-sleaziness, privately hinting to Mr. Darden that he shouldn't call Detective Fuhrman as a witness.