Distinguishing feature possessed by dry man viewed with distrust (9)
I believe the answer is:
suspected
'distinguishing feature possessed by dry' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'man viewed with distrust' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'ed' (short for Edward).
'viewed with' says to put letters next to each other.
'distrust' becomes 'suspect' (synonyms).
'ed' put after 'suspect' is 'SUSPECTED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for suspected that I've seen before include "Believed (someone) guilty" , "thought likely" , "Believed to be the case" , "Imagined to be true" , "Believed likely or distrusted" .)