Hydrocarbon is blue in general character, not black (7)
I believe the answer is:
toluene
'hydrocarbon is blue' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'in general character not black' is the wordplay.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'general character' becomes 'tone' (I've seen this before).
'not black' becomes 'lue' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'tone' going around 'lue' is 'TOLUENE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for toluene that I've seen before include "Hydrocarbon in petrol" , "Benzene-like liquid" , "Compound" , "Constituent of petroleum" , "One lute (anag.); a solvent" .)
