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OP's Words

This puzzle is part of the "Piece de Resistance" series. Read the following section for the story
Ace Two Three Four Five ...

Hey guys (and gals), I have worked on this for weeks, took me even more effort than "A Masterpiece: A mirror or an ABC?". Hope y'all like it, and don't forget to press the upward button if you like it and/or appreciate my effort :D

Prologue

On Sunday night, you went to the bar to chill with your friend. After chatting for a while, your friend produced a deck of cards from his pocket.

"Here, happy birthday, mate! Bye for now!"

And then, without a word, he left.

You flipped through the cards, but they aren't the kind of playing cards you normally see. On the top-right corner of each of the cards are labels, from A through K. Strange though, there is no suit. You soon realised there is only one suit of 13 cards here.

Ace - and A's

You observed the Ace card in detail. It has a silver glossy surface. You tried rubbing a coin against the surface, and you realised there was another layer under the silver surface. The surface underneath was more like a typical playing card, with a white shiny facade. The black text on it says:

$\mathfrak{\text{Ace, I may be to the ear, without one letter.}}$
$\mathfrak{\text{A's, I may be to the eye, without two letters.}}$
$\mathfrak{\text{See? Three letters gone!}}$
$\mathfrak{\text{I am a victim.}}$

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  • $\begingroup$ "under the siver surface" - a typo? $\endgroup$
    – Brandon_J
    Commented Aug 5, 2019 at 11:56
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    $\begingroup$ $\mathfrak{Nice \ use \ of }$ ~ mathfrak $\endgroup$
    – 19aksh
    Commented Aug 5, 2019 at 12:10

2 Answers 2

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Case sounds like ace when you remove one letter (the first), looks like a's when you remove two letters (the first and last), is c (sounds like see) when you remove three letters (the last three), and is a victim of (falls to) arguments in a proof by cases. I don't, however, see a connection to the title ("Piece de Resistance - Introduction").

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  • $\begingroup$ Gah, formatting cost me! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Aug 5, 2019 at 13:02
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    $\begingroup$ PS I expect the title will prove to be the first in a complex series of puzzles... :) +1 by the way $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Aug 5, 2019 at 13:20
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    $\begingroup$ @Stiv I like your explanation for the “I am a victim” line much better, though — regardless of time submitted. $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Commented Aug 5, 2019 at 14:09
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Is the answer:

CASE

Ace, I may be to the ear, without one letter

Remove the C - the remainder 'ASE' sounds like 'Ace'.

A's, I may be to the eye, without two letters

Remove the E as well to get 'AS'.

See? Three letters gone!

Instead remove ASE and you are left with 'C', which sounds like 'see'.

I am a victim.

'Case' in the police sense of the word - a case to solve...

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