Draw a blank when the girl's not at home (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
miss out
'draw a blank' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'the girl's not at home' is the wordplay.
'the girl' becomes 'miss' (term of address for an unmarried woman).
'not at home' becomes 'out' (out can mean away from home).
'miss'+'out'='MISS OUT'
'when' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for miss out that I've seen is " Omit".)