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My inspiration for this puzzle comes from @Elpharya's most recent answer, so please go and upvote their answer! If @Cubemaster is playing games with us again, is it at all possible that the answer is

STACKEXCHANGE??

The Prefix:

For now I have another game, so keep in mind what's at stake.

Let's keep the word "STAKE" in mind.

First though, have some breakfast, add some sea salt for taste.

We'll add some "C SALT", perhaps?

Though come to think of it, breakfast is toast, so the salt is quite a waste.

Then remove the "SALT", leaving "C".

Take what's left and use your mind, It's barely after three,

What's in mind? STAKE is. We need to take the left letters...but how many of them? Barely after three of them, so four of them. This leaves STAK.

wrap it all up and choke it all down, and my prefix there will be.

We now have C and STAK. Wrapping it all together, we can rearrange these letters to form STACK.

The Infix:

Grab your shovel and saddle up, for my infix marks the spot.

X marks the spot, which sounds like the true infix EX.

The Suffix:

My suffix is the strangest thing, the promise of every time

People are always promised CHANGE in their lives, change for the better.

so elusive, yet every day, it's with you at the front of the line.

It's elusive and hard to get, but if you're at the front of the line, you're at the leading edge or cutting edge of something: the frontier of CHANGE.

Putting this all together yields

STACK + EX + CHANGE = STACKEXCHANGE.

As for the hints:

First Hint: Since breakfast didn't matter, it was a red herring. This showed me that the important part was "SEA SALT" - "SALT" = "SEA" = "C".

Second Hint: This one told me that we actually needed to keep a word in mind and use it later on to find the prefix. Although I initially thought it was "MIND", I think "STAKE" works better given the above solution.

Third Hint: CHANGE is indeed an ultimate goal for dreamers and naive youngsters; CHANGE has been promised by the powerful to the masses and is indeed hard to impose (and sometimes doesn't end up happening at all!)

Fourth Hint: The treasure chest of STACKEXCHANGE may be great, but you care more for the treasure inside - namely Puzzling.SE, this community, and the puzzles that are produced and solved everyday by our community!

As for the title,

This was indeed an Ode to Puzzling...an Ode to Puzzling.STACKEXCHANGE!

My inspiration for this puzzle comes from @Elpharya's most recent answer, so please go and upvote their answer! Thank you so much to @Elpharya for the assistance and the legwork on the suffix -- team @El strikes again! :D

If @Cubemaster is playing games with us again, is it at all possible that the answer is

STACKEXCHANGE??

The Prefix:

For now I have another game, so keep in mind what's at stake.

Let's keep the word "STAKE" in mind.

First though, have some breakfast, add some sea salt for taste.

We'll add some "C SALT", perhaps?

Though come to think of it, breakfast is toast, so the salt is quite a waste.

Then remove the "SALT", leaving "C".

Take what's left and use your mind, It's barely after three,

What's in mind? STAKE is. We need to take the left letters...but how many of them? Barely after three of them, so four of them. This leaves STAK.

wrap it all up and choke it all down, and my prefix there will be.

We now have C and STAK. Wrapping it all together, we can rearrange these letters to form STACK.

The Infix:

Grab your shovel and saddle up, for my infix marks the spot.

X marks the spot, which sounds like the true infix EX.

The Suffix:

My suffix is the strangest thing, the promise of every time

People are always promised CHANGE in their lives, change for the better.

so elusive, yet every day, it's with you at the front of the line.

It's elusive and hard to get, but if you're at the front of the line, you're at the leading edge or cutting edge of something: the frontier of CHANGE. Per @Cubemaster, you need pocket CHANGE when you're buying something at the front of the line. Thanks, @Cubemaster!

Putting this all together yields

STACK + EX + CHANGE = STACKEXCHANGE.

As for the hints:

First Hint: Since breakfast didn't matter, it was a red herring. This showed me that the important part was "SEA SALT" - "SALT" = "SEA" = "C".

Second Hint: This one told me that we actually needed to keep a word in mind and use it later on to find the prefix. Although I initially thought it was "MIND", I think "STAKE" works better given the above solution.

Third Hint: CHANGE is indeed an ultimate goal for dreamers and naive youngsters; CHANGE has been promised by the powerful to the masses and is indeed hard to impose (and sometimes doesn't end up happening at all!)

Fourth Hint: The treasure chest of STACKEXCHANGE may be great, but you care more for the treasure inside - namely Puzzling.SE, this community, and the puzzles that are produced and solved everyday by our community!

As for the title,

This was indeed an Ode to Puzzling...an Ode to Puzzling.STACKEXCHANGE!

My inspiration for this puzzle comes from @Elpharya's most recent answer, so please go and upvote their answer! If @Cubemaster is playing games with us again, is it at all possible that the answer is

STACKEXCHANGE??

The Prefix:

For now I have another game, so keep in mind what's at stake.

Let's keep the word "STAKE" in mind.

First though, have some breakfast, add some sea salt for taste.

We'll add some "C SALT", perhaps?

Though come to think of it, breakfast is toast, so the salt is quite a waste.

Then remove the "SALT", leaving "C".

Take what's left and use your mind, It's barely after three,

What's in mind? STAKE is. We need to take the left letters...but how many of them? Barely after three of them, so four of them. This leaves STAK.

wrap it all up and choke it all down, and my prefix there will be.

We now have C and STAK. Wrapping it all together, we can rearrange these letters to form STACK.

The Infix:

Grab your shovel and saddle up, for my infix marks the spot.

X marks the spot, which sounds like the true infix EX.

The Suffix:

My suffix is the strangest thing, the promise of every time

People are always promised CHANGE in their lives, change for the better.

so elusive, yet every day, it's with you at the front of the line.

It's elusive and hard to get, but if you're at the front of the line, you're at the leading edge or cutting edge of something: the frontier of CHANGE.

Putting this all together yields

STACK + EX + CHANGE = STACKEXCHANGE.

As for the hints:

Your first hint made me think about

My inspiration for this puzzle comes from @Elpharya's most recent answer, so please go and upvote their answer! If @Cubemaster is playing games with us again, is it at all possible that the answer is

STACKEXCHANGE??

The Prefix:

For now I have another game, so keep in mind what's at stake.

Let's keep the word "STAKE" in mind.

First though, have some breakfast, add some sea salt for taste.

We'll add some "C SALT", perhaps?

Though come to think of it, breakfast is toast, so the salt is quite a waste.

Then remove the "SALT", leaving "C".

Take what's left and use your mind, It's barely after three,

What's in mind? STAKE is. We need to take the left letters...but how many of them? Barely after three of them, so four of them. This leaves STAK.

wrap it all up and choke it all down, and my prefix there will be.

We now have C and STAK. Wrapping it all together, we can rearrange these letters to form STACK.

The Infix:

Grab your shovel and saddle up, for my infix marks the spot.

X marks the spot, which sounds like the true infix EX.

The Suffix:

My suffix is the strangest thing, the promise of every time

People are always promised CHANGE in their lives, change for the better.

so elusive, yet every day, it's with you at the front of the line.

It's elusive and hard to get, but if you're at the front of the line, you're at the leading edge or cutting edge of something: the frontier of CHANGE.

Putting this all together yields

STACK + EX + CHANGE = STACKEXCHANGE.

As for the hints:

First Hint: Since breakfast didn't matter, it was a red herring. This showed me that the important part was "SEA SALT" - "SALT" = "SEA" = "C".

Second Hint: This one told me that we actually needed to keep a word in mind and use it later on to find the prefix. Although I initially thought it was "MIND", I think "STAKE" works better given the above solution.

Third Hint: CHANGE is indeed an ultimate goal for dreamers and naive youngsters; CHANGE has been promised by the powerful to the masses and is indeed hard to impose (and sometimes doesn't end up happening at all!)

Fourth Hint: The treasure chest of STACKEXCHANGE may be great, but you care more for the treasure inside - namely Puzzling.SE, this community, and the puzzles that are produced and solved everyday by our community!

As for the title,

This was indeed an Ode to Puzzling...an Ode to Puzzling.STACKEXCHANGE!

My inspiration for this puzzle comes from @Elpharya's most recent answer, so please go and upvote their answer! If @Cubemaster is playing games with us again, is it at all possible that the answer is

STACKEXCHANGE??

For now I have another game, so keep in mind what's at stake.

Let's keep the word "STAKE" in mind.

First though, have some breakfast, add some sea salt for taste.

We'll add some "C SALT", perhaps?

Though come to think of it, breakfast is toast, so the salt is quite a waste.

Then remove the "SALT", leaving "C".

Take what's left and use your mind, It's barely after three,

What's in mind? STAKE is. We need to take the left letters...but how many of them? Barely after three of them, so four of them. This leaves STAK.

wrap it all up and choke it all down, and my prefix there will be.

With an early start, and bellies full, the day shan't be for naught.

Grab your shovel and saddle up, for my infix marks the spot.

We've found the treasure, quite the stash, with gold and jewels galore!

You've quite enough wealth, but you still don't rest, for you're seeking something..... more.

My suffix is the strangest thing, the promise of every time

so elusive, yet every day, it's with you at the front of the line.

My inspiration for this puzzle comes from @Elpharya's most recent answer, so please go and upvote their answer! If @Cubemaster is playing games with us again, is it at all possible that the answer is

STACKEXCHANGE??

The Prefix:

For now I have another game, so keep in mind what's at stake.

Let's keep the word "STAKE" in mind.

First though, have some breakfast, add some sea salt for taste.

We'll add some "C SALT", perhaps?

Though come to think of it, breakfast is toast, so the salt is quite a waste.

Then remove the "SALT", leaving "C".

Take what's left and use your mind, It's barely after three,

What's in mind? STAKE is. We need to take the left letters...but how many of them? Barely after three of them, so four of them. This leaves STAK.

wrap it all up and choke it all down, and my prefix there will be.

We now have C and STAK. Wrapping it all together, we can rearrange these letters to form STACK.

The Infix:

Grab your shovel and saddle up, for my infix marks the spot.

X marks the spot, which sounds like the true infix EX.

The Suffix:

My suffix is the strangest thing, the promise of every time

People are always promised CHANGE in their lives, change for the better.

so elusive, yet every day, it's with you at the front of the line.

It's elusive and hard to get, but if you're at the front of the line, you're at the leading edge or cutting edge of something: the frontier of CHANGE.

Putting this all together yields

STACK + EX + CHANGE = STACKEXCHANGE.

As for the hints:

Your first hint made me think about