Saucepan's ready for cooking a snipe (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
pot shot
'a snipe' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'saucepan's ready for cooking' is the wordplay.
'saucepan' becomes 'pot' (I've seen this before).
'ready for cooking' becomes 'shot' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'pot'+'shot'='POT-SHOT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pot shot that I've seen before include "Ill-considered criticism" , "Casual or random firing attempt" , "Bullet or missile aimed casually" , "Casual discharge of gun" , "Critical remark" .)