Boring earl hugged by huge European (5)
I believe the answer is:
beige
'boring' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'earl hugged by huge european' is the wordplay.
'earl' becomes 'e'.
'hugged by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (I've seen this in other clues).
'huge' becomes 'big' (similar in meaning).
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'e' going within 'big' is 'beig'.
'beig'+'e'='BEIGE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beige that I've seen before include "Fawn or buff" , "Pale brown" , "Pale sandy fawn colour" , "Shade of brown" , "Taupe" .)