A Long Island academic graduate. He had a lot of nickers (3,4)

I believe the answer is:

ali baba

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'he had a lot of nickers' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

'a long island academic graduate' is the wordplay.
'long' becomes 'l'.
'island' becomes 'i' (geographical abbreviation).
'academic' becomes 'ba'.
'graduate' becomes 'BA' (someone with a Bachelor of Arts degree).
'a'+'l'+'i'+'ba'+'ba'='ALI BABA'

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(Other definitions for ali baba that I've seen before include "Chopper" , "PANTO (part title)" , "Hero from Arabian Nights who said ''open sesame''" , "He got involved with forty thieves" , "Hero of Arabic story" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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