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Dry service where a laugh’s backfiring as intro (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

saharan

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'dry' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'service where a laugh's backfiring as intro' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is found in the answer.
'laugh' could be 'har' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'har' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sa' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for saharan that I've seen before include "Deserter" , "Relating to the North African desert" , "Baking" .)

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