Needing more salt, perhaps

ICIER

Think of how a road might feel underfoot when temperatures drop below freezing.

This clue plays on the idea of something being "icier" when it lacks enough salt—like how unsalted roads or food can feel colder or blander. The word "icier" sounds like "I see yer" (a phonetic stretch of "I see you're"), hinting at the answer while tying back to the surface meaning of needing salt. It’s a double-layered pun where the definition and wordplay both point to the same five-letter word.