Dry and softly curved (7)
I believe the answer is:
parched
'dry' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'softly curved' is the wordplay.
'softly' becomes 'p' (short for piano, musical term for softly).
'curved' becomes 'arched' (similar in meaning).
'p'+'arched'='PARCHED'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for parched that I've seen before include "Extremely dry" , "Deprived of water" , "Made dry and thirsty" , "Dried out by heat" .)