Cheats alter boring summer clothes (5-7)

I believe the answer is:

short-changes

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'cheats' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with social activities as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'alter boring summer clothes' is the wordplay.
'alter' becomes 'change' (synonyms).
'boring' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters must 'bore' a hole into other letters).
'summer clothes' becomes 'shorts' (shorts is a kind of clothes. I am not sure about the 'summer' bit.).
'change' inserted within 'shorts' is 'SHORT-CHANGES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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