Stolen pans first provoking unfounded criticism (7)
I believe the answer is:
potshot
'unfounded criticism' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'stolen pans first' is the wordplay.
'stolen' becomes 'hot' (I've seen this before).
'pans' becomes 'pots'.
'first' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'hot' put after 'pots' is 'POTSHOT'.
'provoking' is the link.
(Other definitions for potshot that I've seen before include "random criticism" , "Pop" , "Unfounded criticism" .)