Polish author overwhelmed by death (5)
I believe the answer is:
emend
'polish' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'author overwhelmed by death' is the wordplay.
'author' becomes 'me' (the author of the crossword).
'overwhelmed by' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters get absorbed or overwhelmed).
'death' becomes 'end' (synonyms).
'me' going within 'end' is 'EMEND'.
(Other definitions for emend that I've seen before include "Improve (texts)" , "Correct, revise (text)" , "Revise (a text) (E, not A)" , "Make improvements or corrections" , "Remove errors" .)