Embrace old French writer (4)
I believe the answer is:
hugo
'french writer' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'embrace old' is the wordplay.
'embrace' becomes 'hug' (hug is a kind of embrace).
'old' becomes 'o' (abbreviation).
'hug'+'o'='HUGO'
(Other definitions for hugo that I've seen before include "Victor maybe" , "Fr. Author; Sci-fi award" , "Victor .... wrote ''Les Miserables''" , "French romantic writer, Victor, d. 1885" , "Victor ---; --- Wolf" .)