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I’m not familiar with Hugo, and this took a while, mainly to get on the wavelength, but I enjoyed it. FOI 23a, LOI 24d, only because it took me a stupidly long time to see the parsing.
Lots of competition for COD, but I’m going to call it a tie between two slightly Pauline clues: 4d and 26a.
Thanks Hugo: come back soon.

Thanks to (debutant?) Hugo. I found this difficult, though I'm often intimidated by new setters, took a long time to finish.

Hugo definitely has a naughty (Pauline) side, and this puzzle contained arcane GK from both sides of the pond, so I'm not sure of his nationality. Agreed on seeing more of him.

FOI 11. LOI 4, which took forever and probably doubled solving time net of setting the puzzle aside for a while. Not certain of 24d: there are two plausible options but one fits my parsing attempt better.

COD tie between 4 and 2. Enjoyed a great many other clues: 21, 14, 18, 9, 7, 16 and 19. Plenty of complex and witty wordplay.

Hi geeker
Re 24d, I was held up for too long by trying to ‘flip’ the first two letters of the solution. I can see only one parsing that works, involving reversing and then removing the first three letters of a seven-letter word. If you see what I mean 😉

Thanks, rogissimo. I see it now. There are 2 plausible answers based on crossers. I couldn't parse at first, so as often happens I devised an elaborate but unsound construction which yielded the wrong one. 😬

Wow. Most difficult Prize for me in a long time. Maybe too much of the arcana, as geeker puts it, to make for a smooth solve. Having to keep running to the map app or search engine breaks up the flow. My LOI, 15a, was one of those. I would add 18d and 22a to the list of Pauline clues, the latter also being my COD. There are several where either I am missing something or the clue doesn't quite work. I won't mention them yet; I want to take another look in the morning with fresh eyes.

This one will be much discussed I feel.

Morning all. Only about half done as yet. By the way, it's not Hugo but rather "Hugh go" as a bit of a general clue.

In fact, Pauline could well be involved..

A tribute to the former, now retired, editor I believe, whose name is in the clues. It wouldn’t surprise me if Paul is the author.

A joint effort apparently Jono

Thanks, samuipete, that makes sense and accounts for some variations in style :-)