Will hub merchant fit Clinton puzzle? (Eli Segal)

Before Eli Segal decides to expand his Boston mail-order puzzle and magazine business, he is waiting to hear from a friend--President-elect Bill Clinton.

Segal, who served as chief of staff of the Clinton presidential campaign, may be in line for a high-level job in the new administration.

"My business plans depend a great deal on what my future is like," he said in a phone interview last week from his new Back Bay home.

Since the election, Segal has been splitting his time between Clinton's transition headquarters in Little Rock, Ark., and Boston. His friends expect he will soon be moving to Washington. If he does not take a job with the administration, he will continue in his role as informal adviser to the president.

For the past 24 years, Segal has straddled the worlds of business and politics. His friends say his business expertise has distinguished him in the campaign trenches. Segal launched Bits & Pieces, a mail-order catalog that sells elaborate puzzles, offbeat toys and novelty games, in 1984. The company now post annual …