Little hope of end to downpour, indeed! (3)
I believe the answer is:
ray
'little hope' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how they can define each other.
'end to downpour indeed' is the wordplay.
'end to' says to take the final letters.
'indeed' becomes 'ay' ('ay' and 'aye' can mean yes).
The last letter of 'downpour' is 'r'.
'r'+'ay'='RAY'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ray that I've seen before include "Pencil of light" , "Gleam" , "Beam or flatfish" , "Flatfish or sunbeam" , "Second note for the flat fish" .)