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Bracketed numbers after a clue, giving the answer's letter count and word breaks.
Also known as: Clue length notation, Bracketed letter count
The numbers in brackets at the end of a crossword clue give the answer's length. A single number is a single word; numbers separated by commas mark separate words; a hyphen between them means the answer is hyphenated at that point; and an apostrophe is shown where one occurs. So (4,3-2) is a four-letter word, then a hyphenated three-and-two. British puzzles use the convention consistently, American ones frequently omit it altogether.
Distinguishes a hyphen from a space by using a hyphen rather than a comma between the figures, so that a solver knows the answer is hyphenated before writing anything in the grid.
Contexts: News
Is a British convention rather than a universal one. American puzzles frequently give no enumeration at all, which changes how a solver approaches a clue: the grid supplies the length instead.
United Kingdom and United States · Contexts: News
One or more numerals inside round brackets at the end of a line of text, separated by commas or by short horizontal strokes.
Both put numbers in brackets and mean quite different things by it.