Severely criticise starter perhaps - it's tough to get through (7,6)
I believe the answer is:
assault course
'starter perhaps it's tough to get through' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'severely criticise' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'criticise' could be 'assault' (assaulting is a kind of criticising) and 'assault' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'course' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for assault course that I've seen before include "Soldiers' training circuit" , "Arduous training for soldiers" , "physical test" , "Soldiers' training area" , "Training aid" .)