Give up hope of training a spider? (7)
I believe the answer is:
despair
'give up hope' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'training a spider?' is the wordplay.
'training' indicates an anagram (to train can mean to grow something into a shape).
'a'+'spider'='aspider'
'aspider' anagrammed gives 'DESPAIR'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for despair that I've seen before include "Lose heart" , "Smashed up" , "displaying lack of optimism" , "Give up hope" , "Praised (anag) - lose hope" .)