Crossword Genius

Make neat gin hatter will mix with drop of soda (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

straighten

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'drop of soda' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'make neat gin hatter will mix' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'neat' could be 'straight' (synonyms) and 'straight' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'en' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'with' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for straighten that I've seen before include "Get in line" , "Shattering (anag) - unbend" , "put in alignment?" , "Align correctly" , "Unbend, align" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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