Criticise novel ploy for full suit of armour (7)
I believe the answer is:
panoply
'full suit of armour' is the definition.
(historic term)
'criticise novel ploy' is the wordplay.
'criticise' becomes 'pan' (informal term meaning to criticise heavily).
'novel' indicates an anagram.
'ploy' is an anagram of 'oply'.
'pan'+'oply'='PANOPLY'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for panoply that I've seen before include "brilliant array" , "Impressive display" , "Apply no mix to splendid array" , "Wide range" , "A complete or splendid array" .)