Crossword Genius

Drink, uninteresting, altered internally with spice (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gingery

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'drink uninteresting altered' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'internally with spice' is the wordplay.
'internally' becomes 'y' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'spice' becomes 'ginger' (ginger is a spice).
'y' after 'ginger' is 'GINGERY'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for gingery that I've seen is " what's hot and spicy".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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