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"Alter, fraudulently that is, earlier 8th avenue article. Take a treat

at such time as lawyer is point-first - the rest is poultry.

Reader! Why, we hear accounts' core again lacks a profit!

Permutation, without morals first, hurts standing."

(4,1,6,4,3,4,10)

Hint 1:

It seems the first line is the weakest part of the puzzle, so I will offer a little extra direction. The whole first line is a single clue, (4,1,6). The definition is a little loose, and is better taken as a confirmation of the solution rather than an alternate route towards it. Do not pay too much attention to the punctuation. Just because the words "fraudulently that is" appear within the same subordinate clause as written in the clue, it does not mean that they fit together in the solution. In fact, "alter fraudulently" gives one part of the solution and "that is" gives another. Together they make a single word.

Hint 2:

"Alter fraudulently" isn't "doctor", but it is another profession.

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  • $\begingroup$ Wow, this is all one cryptic clue? Hopefully there's a definition. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 18:43
  • $\begingroup$ @Deusovi there are several... i'll leave a hint breaking it up if no one gets it first $\endgroup$
    – DeveloperInDevelopment
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 18:45
  • $\begingroup$ Don't make any hints just yet - give it some time. I'm typically pretty good at cryptics, so I'll try to get some of these. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 18:46
  • $\begingroup$ (By the way, welcome to Puzzling.SE, and great puzzle!) $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 18:46
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Deusovi - each component has a definition adjacent to it. The first may be a little loose by US standards, but only a little. $\endgroup$
    – DeveloperInDevelopment
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 19:05

2 Answers 2

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The full message is...

HAVE A COOKIE WHEN YOU GAIN REPUTATION!

Annotation:

COOK + I.E., with H + AVE. + A placed earlier
[-la]W[-yer] + HEN
Y + [-acc]OU[-nts]
[-a]GAIN
REPUTATION[-m]*

More detailed explanation:

"Alter, fraudulently that is, earlier 8th avenue article. Take a treat...

Alter fraudulently is COOK; "that is" is I.E., and then earlier we add the 8th letter (H) plus avenue (AVE) and an article (A) to get [H+AVE + A + COOK+IE]. The definition is "Take a treat".

...at such time as lawyer is point-first - the rest is poultry.

WHEN: The "point" of "lawyer" could be the WY in the middle, then "first" could tell us to take the first of the two. W + HEN (the rest is poultry), def "at such time as"? Not quite sure if I've interpreted it correctly though.

Reader! Why, we hear accounts' core...

YOU ( "Y", heard, plus accOUnts: def "reader")

...again lacks a profit!

GAIN (AGAIN, lacking A: def "profit")

Permutation, without morals first, hurts standing."

REPUTATION (anagram of PERmUTATION: def "standing")

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  • $\begingroup$ "accounts' core" - right first time, "why, we hear" - right, "morals first" - right. Wrong on alter, fraudulently and permutation... nice start. $\endgroup$
    – DeveloperInDevelopment
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 19:01
  • $\begingroup$ doing well so far... wrong with point. Hint: lawyer has two opposing points. $\endgroup$
    – DeveloperInDevelopment
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 19:14
  • $\begingroup$ Words 1 and 3 are wrong. A little general knowledge is needed, but it's linguistic in nature, not geographical. $\endgroup$
    – DeveloperInDevelopment
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 19:36
  • $\begingroup$ @DeveloperInDevelopment: HANDLE is wrong? Huh, I was fairly sure about that one. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 19:37
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    $\begingroup$ @Deusovi It looks as if you pretty much have this. Maybe "take" is in the sense of being "on the take" leading to the word "payoff" or something like it. $\endgroup$
    – Hugh Meyers
    Commented May 30, 2016 at 9:37
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See Desuovi's answer for the majority of the work. I'm concentrating on the first line only here.

From the hint...

"alter fraudulently" is a profession (not doctor), so how about cook?

and...

"that is" is another way of putting the Latin abbreviation i.e.

so together we have...

COOKIE

So now take a treat, making (4,1,6)...

HAVE A COOKIE.

Altogether,

HAVE A COOKIE WHEN YOU GAIN REPUTATION

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3
  • $\begingroup$ Correct! You mention Desuovi's work on the answer, so I will leave it to the two of you to decide which one wants the credit. I'll accept whichever answer is edited to contain the complete solution. Currently "8th avenue article" and the "lawyer" in line 2 are unexplained. $\endgroup$
    – DeveloperInDevelopment
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 23:34
  • $\begingroup$ Ah, I thought COOK was right but I couldn't figure out how it would fit with the rest. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 0:08
  • $\begingroup$ (I've figured the rest out. I'll edit it in.) $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Jun 1, 2016 at 0:08

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