Ignore past appearance (8)
I believe the answer is:
overlook
'ignore' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'past appearance' is the wordplay.
'past' becomes 'over' (both can mean finished).
'appearance' becomes 'look' (look is a kind of appearance).
'over'+'look'='OVERLOOK'
(Other definitions for overlook that I've seen before include "Fail to observe or decide to ignore" , "Disregard" , "Miss; forgive" , "Give a view from above - miss" , "Fail to observe or consider" .)