Crossword Genius

A flask drained after weekend accompanying a dark fabulist (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

kafka

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'fabulist' is the definition.
(I know that Kafka has the occupation fabulist)

'a flask drained after weekend accompanying a' is the wordplay.
'drained' means to remove the middle letters.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'weekend' becomes 'k' (I've seen this in other clues).
'accompanying' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'flask' with its middle taken out is 'fk'.
'a' next to 'fk' is 'afk'.
'afk' after 'k' is 'kafk'.
'kafk'+'a'='KAFKA'

'dark' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for kafka that I've seen before include "Czech author of The Trial, d.1924" , "Franz ---, Trial, Castle author" , "Male author" , "Novelist's" , "Franz ....., Czech author of 'The Trial'" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app