Crossword Genius

The drunker the meaner (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tighter

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

'the meaner' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'the drunker' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'the' is 'hte' which is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tighter that I've seen before include "More close-fitting" , "even more tense" , "More constricted" , "Meaner" , "more mean" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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