Conspiracy is settled in prize-winning competition (5-2)
I believe the answer is:
cover-up
'competition' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'conspiracy is settled in prize-winning' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'settled' could be 'over' (I've seen this before) and 'over' is found in the answer.
'prize' could be 'cup' (cup is a kind of prize) and 'cup' is present in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cover-up that I've seen before include "Attempt to prevent discovery of a crime" , "Whitewash" , "Withhold information" , "Withholding of information" , "An attempt to conceal the truth" .)