Linguistic Hedges and Crossword Puzzles

A hedge is a linguistic device that is used by a speaker, or writer to communicate his or her feelings regarding the degree of accuracy or truth in a statement. Hedges can be in the form of adjectives, adverbs and, my favorite, phrases. As you readers already know, crossword puzzles are another one of my favorite things. A few weeks ago the Detroit Free Press ran a great crossword puzzle with phrasal hedges as the theme. Boy, was that a fun one. Following are the clues and answers:

Don't know for sure, but... So they say
Don't quote me, but... The word is
According to the grapevine... Reportedly
From people in the know... Rumor has it