Fail to save South American state characterised by neglect (6)
I believe the answer is:
disuse
'neglect' is the definition.
(both can mean a state of disrepair)
'fail to save south american' is the wordplay.
'fail' becomes 'die' (synonyms).
'to save' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'south' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'american' becomes 'US' (abbreviation for United States).
's'+'us'='sus'
'die' placed around 'sus' is 'DISUSE'.
'state characterised by' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for disuse that I've seen before include "State of not being employed" , "Issued (anag)" , "Fall into this state to be unemplyed? (6)." , "Neglect; abandonment" , "Neglect; desuetude" .)