Author Shirley managed to support kid (6)

'author shirley' is the definition.
(British author Shirley Conran)

'managed to support kid' is the wordplay.
'managed' becomes 'ran' (both can mean organised or was in charge of).
'to support' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, some letters hold others up).
'kid' becomes 'con' (I've seen this in other clues).
'ran' put after 'con' is 'CONRAN'.