French stew over hopelessly lost cause (9)
I believe the answer is:
cassoulet
'french stew' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hopelessly lost cause' is the wordplay.
'hopelessly' is an anagram indicator.
'lost'+'cause'='lostcause'
'lostcause' is an anagram of 'CASSOULET'.
'over' is the link.
(Other definitions for cassoulet that I've seen before include "French stew made with meat and beans" , "dish" .)