The French like an ice cream to be brief (7)
I believe the answer is:
laconic
'be brief' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'the french like an ice' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'la' ('the' in French).
'like an ice' becomes 'conic' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'la'+'conic'='LACONIC'
'cream to' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for laconic that I've seen before include "Conical (anag) -- brief and to the point" , "Concise - terse" , "Terse; pithy" , "Spartan" , "Succinct in speech" .)