Sad remark by a girl at a hearing (4)
I believe the answer is:
alas
'sad remark by a girl' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'at a hearing' is the wordplay.
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'hearing' becomes 'las' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a' next to 'las' is 'ALAS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alas that I've seen before include "Expression of grief or misfortune" , "Sad to say!" , "-- and alack!" , "Cry of woe" , "'- Poor Yorick' (Hamlet)" .)