Crossword Genius

Surrounded by flipping dull Austria (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

amid

'surrounded by' is the definition.
(amid means among or surrounded by)

'flipping dull austria' is the wordplay.
'flipping' says the letters should be written backwards.
'dull' becomes 'dim' (synonyms).
'austria' becomes 'a'.
'dim'+'a'='dima'
'dima' backwards is 'AMID'.

(Other definitions for amid that I've seen before include "In the course of" , "A dim sort of preposition" , "'See . . . . the winter's snow' (carol)" , "In the centre of" , "In the middle of" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.
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