Second critic is overwhelmed by meal consumed, which does dampen spirits (10)
I believe the answer is:
dishearten
'does dampen spirits' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'second critic is overwhelmed by meal consumed' is the wordplay.
'second critic' becomes 'r' (2nd letter of 'critic').
'is overwhelmed by' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters get absorbed or overwhelmed).
'meal' becomes 'dish' (a dish is a particular meal).
'consumed' becomes 'eaten' (similar in meaning).
'dish'+'eaten'='disheaten'
'r' going within 'disheaten' is 'DISHEARTEN'.
'which' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dishearten that I've seen before include "Take hope from" , "cast down" , "Take away bottle" , "Bring down" , "Cause (someone) to lose confidence" .)