Varnish ingredient stirred with irons (5)
I believe the answer is:
rosin
'varnish' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'ingredient stirred with irons' is the wordplay.
'irons' can be anagrammed to 'ROSIN'.
But, I am not clear how this is indicated.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rosin that I've seen before include "Rub it along the violin bow" , "Violin bow treatment" , "Sticky stuff rubbed on violin strings" , "Wax for violin bow etc." , "It's put on bow" .)