Under consideration is a mixed problem in the half-strip Π = {(x, t) : 0 < x < 1, t > 0} for a first order homogeneous linear hyperbolic system with delay in t in the boundary conditions. We study the behavior of the Laplace transform of a solution to this problem for the large values of the complex parameter. The boundary conditions are found under which the smoothness of a solution to the corresponding mixed problem increases with t.