Gave heart, in the end, to the performers who felt unappreciated? (7)
I believe the answer is:
encored
'end to the performers who felt unappreciated?' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, past participle verbs and adjectives can sometimes define each other.
'gave heart in' is the wordplay.
'gave' becomes 'end' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'heart' becomes 'core' (synonyms).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'end' enclosing 'core' is 'ENCORED'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for encored that I've seen before include "Asked to repeat" , "Red cone (anag.)" .)