US writer has May the 1st in England (9)
I believe the answer is:
hawthorne
'us writer' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'may the 1st in england' is the wordplay.
'may' becomes 'hawthorn' (may is another name for the hawthorn tree).
'the 1st in england' becomes 'e' (1st letter of 'england').
'hawthorn'+'e'='HAWTHORNE'
'has' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hawthorne that I've seen before include "One of the US authors" , "Nathaniel . . . . . . . . ., American author of 'The Scarlet Letter" , "Nathaniel ......... wrote ` `The Scarlet Letter' '" , "Novelist" .)