The blinking animal has disappeared (7)
I believe the answer is:
doggone
'the blinking' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'animal has disappeared' is the wordplay.
'animal' becomes 'dog' (type of animal).
'has' says to put letters next to each other.
'disappeared' becomes 'gone' (going is a kind of disappearing).
'dog'+'gone'='DOGGONE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for doggone that I've seen before include "expression used by irritated person" , "Infernal" .)