Criticism of minor routes over accidents, essentially (9)
I believe the answer is:
broadside
'criticism' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'of minor routes over accidents essentially' is the wordplay.
'of' becomes 'o'.
'minor routes' becomes 'brads' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'over' indicates putting letters inside.
'essentially' means to look at the middle letters.
The middle of 'accidents' is 'ide'.
'o' inserted inside 'brads' is 'broads'.
'broads'+'ide'='BROADSIDE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for broadside that I've seen before include "Full weight of (ship's) fire" , "Fierce verbal attack" , "Stick" , "Strong verbal attack on sideboard" , "A strong attack in words - or by old ship" .)