Crossword Genius

Idle hands grabbing old tie, lazily (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

loiter

'idle' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'hands grabbing old tie lazily' is the wordplay.
'hands' becomes 'lr' (abbreviations for left and right).
'grabbing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'lazily' is an anagram indicator (a lazy arrangement of the letters).
'o'+'tie'='otie'
'otie' is an anagram of 'oite'.
'lr' enclosing 'oite' is 'LOITER'.

(Other definitions for loiter that I've seen before include "Hang about idly" , "Stand around idly" , "Dawdle, hang around" , "lounge" , "Linger, tarry" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app