Crossword Genius

Life of Brian not getting an Oscar? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

brio

'life' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'brian not getting an oscar?' is the wordplay.
'not getting' suggests deleting specific letters.
'oscar?' becomes 'o' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'brian' with 'an' taken away is 'bri'.
'bri'+'o'='BRIO'

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for brio that I've seen before include "In music, con ..... means with dash and verve" , "Sparkle" , "Enthusiasm" , "Dash or verve, from Italian" , "Vigour (in music)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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