Novelist of note eclipsing mediocre one, some hope? (9)
I believe the answer is:
thackeray
'novelist' is the definition.
(William Makepeace Thackeray)
'note eclipsing mediocre one some hope?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'note' could be 'ray' (I've seen this before) and 'ray' is found within the answer.
'one' could be 'a' and 'a' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for thackeray that I've seen before include "W.M. -, Eng. novelist" , "Victorian novelist, William" , "William Makepeace . . . . . . . . . wrote ` `Vanity Fair' '" , "writer" , "William Makepeace --, English novelist" .)