Despondent after deal when they get smaller apartment, maybe (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
trade down
'they get smaller apartment maybe' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'despondent after deal' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'deal' could be 'trade' (synonyms) and 'trade' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'down' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'when' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for trade down that I've seen before include "Buy a smaller house" , "go for something cheaper" , "get a smaller house, say" .)