i was posed this as like a cryptic clue and i've got nothing so far:

count for example a number lacking direction following the sound of a
drink before the french article 5

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Jul 2005 10:48 PDT

Do you know the number of letters in the answer (as would usually be
the case for a cryptic)?

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Clarification of Question by foxmccloud-ga on 30 Jul 2005 11:06 PDT

Nope its taken from a code as has been listed below

Note: Here is a previous discussion about this puzzle:

"Cracking a Code"
Google Answers
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=470967

Having read the previous post and thinking about it for a while I believe that:

1) the only number lacking direction is a zero(0) since it is
essentially a circle and it does not matter which direction it is
written.

2) the number five in the clue refers to the number of letters in the
answer.  I found this similiar clue on a puzzle discussion site:

"...The passage is after a French article (5)"
 http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.puzzles.crosswords/browse_thread/thread/4fc11dd7c42565f5/d68eb9345bb69a1e?lnk=st&q=%22french+article+5%22&rnum=2&hl=en#d68eb9345bb69a1e