Drunk used to be lout, many years ago (6)
I believe the answer is:
wasted
'drunk' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'used to be lout many years ago' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'many' could be 'd' (Roman numeral for 500) and 'd' is present in the answer.
'used to be' could be 'was' (eg 'he was...' means 'he used to be...') and 'was' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'te' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wasted that I've seen before include "Misspent" , "Dissipated; atrophied" , "Squandered or weakened" , "Squandered, dissipated" , "Blown" .)