Cardinal quits after getting back to front (5)

I believe the answer is:

seven

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'cardinal quits after getting back to front' is the definition.
I know that 'cardinal' relates to this answer.

'cardinal quits after' is the wordplay.
'cardinal' becomes 's' (South, a cardinal direction).
'quits' becomes 'even' (as in 'call it quits').
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
's'+'even'='SEVEN'

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(Other definitions for seven that I've seen before include "- Against Thebes (Aeschylus)" , "Prime number" , "Number of sisters in Sussex" , "Number (of stars in the sky?)" , "Cube root of 343" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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