The record, played such a long time after, proves hopeless (12)
I believe the answer is:
disconsolate
'hopeless' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the record played such a long time after' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'record' could be 'disc' (eg a CD, compact disc) and 'disc' is present in the answer.
'such' could be 'so' and 'so' is located in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
'long' could be 'l' and 'l' is found within the answer.
'time' could be 'one' (I've seen this before) and 'one' is located in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'proves' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for disconsolate that I've seen before include "Woebegone" , "Very sad or disappointed" , "Sad; beyond comfort" , "Unhappy and impossible to comfort" , "Low in spirits" .)