Crossword Genius

Inky book fills fuel shortage (4,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

coal black

'inky' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'book fills fuel shortage' is the wordplay.
'book' becomes 'b' (abbreviation for book).
'fills' is an insertion indicator.
'fuel' becomes 'coal' (coal is a kind of fuel).
'shortage' becomes 'lack' (a lack is a shortage of something).
'coal'+'lack'='coallack'
'b' put inside 'coallack' is 'COAL-BLACK'.

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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