Daughter having bad time in dry spell (7)
I believe the answer is:
drought
'dry spell' is the definition.
(a period of low rainfall)
'daughter having bad time' is the wordplay.
'daughter' becomes 'd'.
'having' says to put letters next to each other.
'bad' becomes 'rough' (both can mean unwell).
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'd'+'rough'+'t'='DROUGHT'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for drought that I've seen before include "Severe water shortage" , "Aridity" , "Lack of rainfall" , "Prolonged shortage of rainfall" , "Long water shortage" .)