DEVICE E:  THE FRAGMENTS
Some letters of the word are coded individually, or in pairs.
eg. From one hundred the Spanish do well = EX+C+EL=EXCEL
The prefix "ex" can mean "from", "c" is the roman numeral for "one hundred", and "el" is "the" in Spanish.
Fragments are often used in conjunction with full (or almost full) words which, when added together, make another word:
Offer compensation concerning the robe=RE+DRESS=REDRESS
"Re" is an abbreviation for "concerning" or "about".
Greek character almost stole gun=PI+STOL(E)=PISTOL
  Suspect individually coded letters when you see: numbers, language groups, direction, point, or any words that can be represented by 1,2 or sometimes 3 letters. See list below
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                     SAMPLE LIST of WORD FRAGMENTS

 Common Roman numerals: 1 = "I", 5 = "V", 10 = "X", 50 = "L", 100 = "C", 500 = "D", 1000 = "M", 9 = "IX", 40 = "IV", 90 = "XC", 101 = "CI" and so forth. The numbers are often spelt ( e.g. "one").

Compass points: "N, E, S, W" are often referred to as "direction, point","way" or "north, east", etc respectively.

Individual letters: love = "O" (i.e. a nil score in tennis), also represented by "circle, band, zero, none, nothing", learner = "L", right = "R", left = "L".

Letters by sound: pea = "P", queue = "Q", bee = "B", see = "C", ease = "EE", ivy = "IV".

Scientific symbols: mass = "M", speed of light = "C", velocity = "V", integrated circuit = "IC" (chip), gravity = "G", force = "F", energy = "E", aluminium="AL" and so on for other elements.

Paired abbreviations: credit = "CR", editor = "ED", queen/royal = "ER", manuscript = "MS", that is = "IE" for example (eg.), doctor = "MD","MO" or "DR", company = "CO", ship = "SS" and so on.

States: American States are often used. Georgia="GA", New York = "NY" Being Australian I prefer to use "VIC","SA","WA","TAS" etc. including "NT" (which is actually a territory and not a state).

Larger abbreviations: December = "DEC", Friday = "FRI", incorporated = "INC", professional = "PRO" and so forth.

Foreign words: "the" in several languages.
"IL, LA" - Italian, "LE, LA" = french, "EL" = spanish, "TE" = maori. These are the ones I see most commonly but be aware this is not an exhaustive list as "LOS" is also spanish for "the" (plural) as is the french "LES". Foreign words for "in, on" and other common words are also used. If indicated consult a foreign language dictionary (if you have one) or a multilingual friend.

Names: Edward = "ED" "NED" "TED", Albert/Alfred = "AL", Susan = "SUE" and so forth.

Heads, tails and centres/hearts: The dragon's head is "D" (the first letter) while the tail of the dragon is "N".
The heart or centre usually refers to one or more letters in the centre of a word, as "EE" in "meet" and "P" in "ape" or "paper".
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