Crossword Genius

In New York, as CIA need to move carefully (4,3,4)

Ross

I think it could be either:

Which length description are you looking for?:

4

4,3,4

'cia need to move carefully' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'in new york' is the wordplay.
'new' indicates an anagram.
'york' becomes 'ce' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' is an anagram of 'ni'.
'ni'+'ce'='NICE'

'as' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for nice that I've seen before include "good" , "Pleasant, agreeable" , "Pleasant Riviera town?" , "French resort; kind" , "French seaport in SE - sounds pleasant" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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