Most gloomy hearing in the most uninteresting case (9)

I believe the answer is:

dreariest

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'most gloomy' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are superlative adjectives. Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'hearing in the most uninteresting case' is the wordplay.
'hearing' becomes 'ear' (ear is a kind of hearing).
'in the' indicates putting letters inside.
'most uninteresting case' becomes 'driest' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ear' going inside 'driest' is 'DREARIEST'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dreariest that I've seen before include "Most tiresome" , "Not the most exciting" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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