Criticise cuts removing last source of economies (5)
I believe the answer is:
snipe
'criticise' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cuts removing last source of economies' is the wordplay.
'cuts' becomes 'snips' (snipping is a kind of cutting).
'removing last' means to remove the last letter.
'source of economies' becomes 'e' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'snips' with its final letter removed is 'snip'.
'snip'+'e'='SNIPE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for snipe that I've seen before include "Pines like wading bird" , "To pick off soldiers, say" , "Perhaps carp" , "Fire from cover; bird" , "Shoot; birds" .)