Crossword Genius

Dicky learnt uranium is lacking noticeable colour (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

neutral

'lacking noticeable colour' is the definition.
(in neutral tones)

'dicky learnt uranium' is the wordplay.
'dicky' indicates anagramming the letters (dicky can mean ill or non-functioning).
'uranium' becomes 'U' (U is the chemical symbol for uranium).
'learnt'+'u'='learntu'
'learntu' with letters rearranged gives 'NEUTRAL'.

'is' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for neutral that I've seen before include "Not taking sides in a war" , "not getting involved?" , "Not favouring one side or the other" , "A runlet? (anag)" , "Not allied to either side" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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