Crossword Genius

It’s sweet, to take a short spin with a friend (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cyclamate

'it's sweet' is the definition.
(sodium cyclamate is a sweetener)

'spin with a friend' is the wordplay.
'spin' becomes 'cycle'.
'with' indicates putting letters inside.
'friend' becomes 'mat' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'a'+'mat'='amat'
'cycle' going around 'amat' is 'CYCLAMATE'.

'to take a short' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

(Another definition for cyclamate that I've seen is " old substitute for 22 dn [SUGAR]".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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