Last of critics getting extremely excited after sauce served up is sweetened (7)
I believe the answer is:
sugared
'is sweetened' is the definition.
('sugared' can be a synonym of 'sweetened')
'last of critics getting extremely excited after sauce served up' is the wordplay.
'last of' suggests the final letters.
'getting' says to put letters next to each other.
'extremely' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'after sauce' becomes 'ragu' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'after' bit.**).
'served up' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'excited' with its middle taken out is 'ed'.
The last letter of 'critics' is 's'.
'ragu' reversed gives 'ugar'.
'ed' after 'ugar' is 'ugared'.
's'+'ugared'='SUGARED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sugared that I've seen before include "Sweetly coated (almond)" , "Sweetened" .)