Dries out, drinking tea, more sober (8)
I believe the answer is:
steadier
'more sober' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are comparative adjectives. Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'dries out drinking tea' is the wordplay.
'out' indicates anagramming the letters (out can mean wrong or inaccurate).
'drinking' is an insertion indicator.
'dries' with letters rearranged gives 'sdier'.
'sdier' enclosing 'tea' is 'STEADIER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for steadier that I've seen before include "More stable and reliable" , "More firm or constant" , "More stabe, at readiest" , "More stable, being readiest" , "Readiest (anag.)" .)