Tastier sorbet, say, eaten by empty neighbour (5)
I believe the answer is:
nicer
'tastier' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are comparative adjectives. Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'sorbet say eaten by empty neighbour' is the wordplay.
'sorbet say' becomes 'ice' (sorbet is a kind of ice).
'eaten by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters get eaten).
'empty' means to remove the middle letters.
'neighbour' becomes 'near' (similar in meaning).
'near' with its middle taken out is 'nr'.
'ice' going within 'nr' is 'NICER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nicer that I've seen before include "relatively pleasant" , "More pleasant or fine" , "improved" , "more lovely" , "Even more 7 down!" .)