Dry, quiet and waggish (5)
I believe the answer is:
parch
'dry' is the definition.
(parching is a kind of drying)
'quiet and waggish' is the wordplay.
'quiet' becomes 'p' (music symbol for 'piano', ie soft or quiet).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'waggish' becomes 'arch' (both can mean sarcastic or playful).
'p'+'arch'='PARCH'
(Other definitions for parch that I've seen before include "Cause to wither" , "Scorch" , "Make hot and dry" , "Dehydrate" , "Get overheated" .)