Donate soup so fewer lose hope (4,2)
I believe the answer is:
give up
'lose hope' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'donate soup so fewer' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'donate' could be 'give' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'give' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'up' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for give up that I've seen before include "Cease trying" , "Surrender or abandon hope" , "Throw in the towel" , "Renounce or yield" , "Cede, forego" .)