The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 5 letter word MARK TWAIN
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
M
A
R
K
T
W
A
I
N
More clues leading to the result MARK TWAIN
- Observe, over time, victory inspiring a writer
- Writer beginning to throw wife on ship into sea
- Famous American Model T vehicle
- Humorist‘s place for shopping cart
- Author took notice of Rooney in conversation
- Writer of “With American flag, can drape …”
- Note two alluding to American author
- Author’s character I want to be cast
- Author‘s holy book I want badly
- Author of novel ‘Kim’, at end of Afghan war
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Writer" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case writer = mark twain.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.