Crossword Genius

Copper keeping home initially hampered nick (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pinch

'nick' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'copper keeping home initially hampered' is the wordplay.
'copper' becomes 'pc' (police constable).
'keeping' indicates putting letters inside.
'home' becomes 'in' ('he's home' can mean 'he's in').
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'hampered' is 'h'.
'pc' enclosing 'in' is 'pinc'.
'pinc'+'h'='PINCH'

(Other definitions for pinch that I've seen before include "Squeeze painfully" , "amount of salt?" , "Grip tightly; steal (colloq.)" , "Squeeze between the fingers" , "Steal (informal); squeeze" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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