A dry lot I manipulated with skill (8)
I believe the answer is:
adroitly
'with skill' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a dry lot i manipulated' is the wordplay.
'manipulated' indicates an anagram.
'dry'+'lot'+'i'='dryloti'
'dryloti' with letters rearranged gives 'droitly'.
'a'+'droitly'='ADROITLY'
(Other definitions for adroitly that I've seen before include "With dexterity" , "With skill - dilatory (anag)" , "in masterly fashion" , "far from clumsily" , "Dexterously" .)