The phrase "a sort of reply" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when describing a response that is not a direct or complete answer but rather a vague or partial one.
Example: "Her answer was a sort of reply, leaving many questions still unanswered."
Alternatives: "a kind of response" or "a type of answer."
The result is a sort of smart auto-reply that actually addresses the received email's contents but doesn't have the downside of requiring the recipients to open, read or respond to it themselves.
I think afterwards that it is a very Penelope Tree sort of reply: self-deprecating, and really rather wise.
My opening question, about her new book A Snow Garden, receives the sort of reply that strikes fear into any interviewer.
"What does a novel do?" E. M. Forster asked in "Aspects of the Novel," and he imagined himself, "in a sort of drooping, regretful voice," replying: "Yes -- oh dear yes -- the novel tells a story".
As to whether these transfers of power could lead to "a sort of musical chairs," he replied, "I think it means when the inability is removed he resumes his duties," although he saw the potential problem it posed.
But it does not, and hence there is no reason in principle why a polyadic concept cannot have something non-polyadic corresponding to it.[16] In making this sort of reply, Albert aligns himself with a medieval tradition of rejecting the view that for every distinct type of concept there is a distinct type of entity.
One way of dealing with a coworker who sends consistently rude emails is to CC in your boss or another relevant coworker every time that you reply (a sort of reverse coercion in that you're coercing them into keeping things polite).
The best sort of reply for qualitative hedonists is to present an account that does not suffer from either such reduction or such collapse.
