In US Pat 3,002,836 they react o-nitrotoluene with diethyl oxalate to form ethyl-o-nitrophenylpyruvate, which is reacted with hydroxylamine followed by H2SO4 to form o-nitrophenylacetonitrile.
This sounds like a great way to phenylacetonitriles, but they do not give any details on how to do it, and I do not know if the nitro group has anything to do with the reaction. Is there anyone who knows more about this reaction, and possibly have any useful references?