The phenomenon of apparent microhardness increase with increasing applied indentation test load, the reverse indentation size effect (RISE), was addressed from the viewpoint of indentation-induced cracking. The apparent microhardness when the cracking occurs was found to be related to the applied indentation test load as P-5/3. Previously published results on single crystals of silicon, GaAs, GaP and InP, which differ by a factor of four, all fall on the same line when analysed through this concept. It is concluded that the RISE is a result of the specimen cracking during the indentation.