American uncle criticises boats in the Far East (7)
I believe the answer is:
sampans
'boats in the far east' is the definition.
'sampans' can be an answer for 'boats' (sampan is a kind of boat). I am not sure about the 'in the far east' bit.
'american uncle criticises' is the wordplay.
'american uncle' becomes 'Sam' (Uncle Sam is a nickname for the USA).
'criticises' becomes 'pans' (pan can mean to criticise severely).
'sam'+'pans'='SAMPANS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for sampans that I've seen is " Chinese skiffs".)