Dried out? Bowled in almost drunk before party! (7,2)
I believe the answer is:
sobered up
'dried out?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'bowled in almost drunk before party' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'bowled' could be 'b' (cricket abbreviation) and 'b' is present in the answer.
'before' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found within the answer.
'party' could be 'dup' (Democratic Unionist Party) and 'dup' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sore' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?