Every second way to make "neat" (9)
I believe the answer is:
alternate
'every second' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'way to make neat' is the wordplay.
'way' becomes 'alter' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to make' indicates an anagram.
'neat' with letters rearranged gives 'nate'.
'alter'+'nate'='ALTERNATE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alternate that I've seen before include "Occur in turn repeatedly" , "Take turns" , "Happening or following in turns, one after the other" , "deputy" , "Change to first the one, then the other" .)