Crossword Genius

Refusal to keep dry and neat (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

natty

'neat' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'refusal to keep dry' is the wordplay.
'refusal' becomes 'nay' (I've seen this before).
'to keep' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'dry' becomes 'tt' (abbreviation for teetotal).
'nay' going around 'tt' is 'NATTY'.

'and' is the link.

(Other definitions for natty that I've seen before include "Stylish" , "Flashily smart" , "Stylishly dressed" , "Informally neat and well-dressed" , "Smartly dressed" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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