The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 3 letter word HATCHET MAN
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
H
A
T
C
H
E
T
M
A
N
More clues leading to the result HATCHET MAN
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "malicious critic" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case malicious critic = hatchet man.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.