Tot covered in ice-cream finally panics and eats (8)

'eats' is the definition.
(consuming is a kind of eating)

'tot covered in ice-cream finally panics' is the wordplay.
'tot' becomes 'sum' ('sum' can be a synonym of 'tot').
'covered in' is an insertion indicator.
'ice-cream' becomes 'cone' (I've seen this in other clues).
'finally' suggests the final letters.
The final letter of 'panics' is 's'.
'sum' going inside 'cone' is 'consume'.
'consume'+'s'='CONSUMES'

'and' acts as a link.