Almost all the ladies, say, turning up for author (5)
I believe the answer is:
eliot
'for author' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for eliot that I've seen before include "T S . . . . . wrote ''The Waste Land''" , "thin material rejected" , "George - - (novelist)" , "Murder in the Cathedral author" , "Middlemarch author" .)