Crossword Genius

Award peerless hunter holding in Austria (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

bestowal

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

'peerless hunter holding in austria' is the wordplay.
'peerless' becomes 'best' (I've seen this before).
'hunter' becomes 'owl' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'holding in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'austria' becomes 'a'.
'owl' placed around 'a' is 'owal'.
'best'+'owal'='BESTOWAL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for bestowal that I've seen before include "Conferment (of an honour)" , "Act of giving" , "Act of conferring (eg, grant on someone)" , "presentation" , "award" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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