Soil retains dry composition (8)
I believe the answer is:
miserere
'composition' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'soil retains dry' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'dry' could be 'sere' (similar in meaning) and 'sere' is found within the answer.
'soil' could be 'mire' (mire is a kind of soil) and 'mire' is found within the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for miserere that I've seen before include "Psalm seeking mercy" , "Setting of Psalm fifty one" , "plea for mercy" , "Mercy Seat" , "appeal for mercy" .)