However, a neat tray resulted (2,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
at any rate
'however' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a neat tray resulted' is the wordplay.
'resulted' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'result of' mean this).
'neat'+'tray'='neattray'
'neattray' anagrammed gives 'tanyrate'.
'a'+'tanyrate'='AT ANY RATE'
(Other definitions for at any rate that I've seen before include "Price thus unspecified" , "Whatever may have happened" , "regardless of the cost?" , "Nevertheless" , "come what may" .)