Official not losing heart after mean answer (9)
I believe the answer is:
intendant
'official' is the definition.
(I know that intendant is a type of official)
'not losing heart after mean answer' is the wordplay.
'losing heart' means to remove the middle letters.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'mean' becomes 'intend' (to intend to something is to mean it).
'answer' becomes 'a' (abbreviation eg in Q and A).
'not' with its centre removed is 'nt'.
'intend'+'a'='intenda'
'nt' after 'intenda' is 'INTENDANT'.
(Other definitions for intendant that I've seen before include "Theatre administrator" , "Director, manager" , "Manger" .)