Crossword Genius

Foreign author describing English author (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

thoreau

'author' is the definition.
(Thoreau is an example)

'foreign author describing english' is the wordplay.
'foreign' is an anagram indicator (foreign order of the letters).
'describing' means one lot of letters goes inside another (describe can mean to form the outline of).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'author' with letters rearranged gives 'thorau'.
'thorau' placed around 'e' is 'THOREAU'.

(Other definitions for thoreau that I've seen before include "One who wrote" , "Henry David --, 19th century American author" , "Henry David --, US essayist and poet" , "American author, friend of Emerson" , "American writer" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app