French writer left variable account supporting airline (6)
I believe the answer is:
balzac
'french writer' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'left variable account supporting airline' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'variable account' becomes 'zac' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'supporting' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, some letters go below others).
'airline' becomes 'BA' (British Airways).
'l'+'zac'='lzac'
'lzac' put after 'ba' is 'BALZAC'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for balzac that I've seen before include "Nineteenth century French novelist" , "Comedie humaine author" , "Honore de ......, great French author of ` `The Human Comedy' '" , "French novelist, d. 1850" , "Honore de ......, novelist of 'The Human Comedy'" .)