Men have note stolen for unfair criticism (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
cheap shot
'unfair criticism' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'men have note stolen' is the wordplay.
'men' becomes 'chaps' (chap can mean a man).
'have' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'note' becomes 'e' (musical note).
'stolen' becomes 'hot' (stolen goods are 'hot').
'chaps' placed around 'e' is 'cheaps'.
'cheaps'+'hot'='CHEAP SHOT'
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cheap shot that I've seen before include "Unkind act" , "Barbed comment exploiting known weakness of target" .)