Reprimand French and complain upfront (6)
I believe the answer is:
carpet
'reprimand french' is the definition.
'carpet' can be an answer for 'reprimand' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'french' bit.
'complain upfront' is the wordplay.
'complain' becomes 'carp' (I've seen this before).
'upfront' becomes 'et' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'carp'+'et'='CARPET'
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for carpet that I've seen before include "Slate" , "Woven fabric for the floor" , "from Brussels, for instance" , "The red one is for VIPs" , "Floor covering of heavy fabric" .)