Spooner said condition of man is at an impasse (9)
I believe the answer is:
stalemate
'impasse' is the definition.
(I know that impasse can be written as stalemate)
'spooner said condition of man is at an' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'man' could be 'lem' and 'lem' is present in the answer.
'at' is found in the answer.
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ste' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stalemate that I've seen before include "An enforced draw in chess" , "Inconclusive result" , "Possible chess game ending" , "a position on board" , "situation without a winner" .)