Tidy and waterless (4)

I believe the answer is:

neat

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'tidy' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'and waterless' is the wordplay.
'and' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and').
'waterless' becomes 'eat' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'n'+'eat'='NEAT'

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(Other definitions for neat that I've seen before include "cow maybe" , "without ice?" , "Cool - without a mixer" , "Tidy cattle" , "Tidy and spruce" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.

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