Crossword Genius

The old man's voting against that Spanish neighbour (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

paisano

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'spanish neighbour' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'the old man's voting against' is the wordplay.
'the old man's voting' becomes 'paisa' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'against' becomes 'no'.
'paisa'+'no'='PAISANO'

'that' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for paisano that I've seen before include "American friend" , "buddy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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