A secas

A secas
 

Does anyone know that it means? In context this is what was written,"no quiero ser un crítico a secas" I think it means merciless critic.

A secas could be translated as "(just).... and nothing else"
i.e. "I don't want to be a (just) a critic and nothing else"
It could be that he doesn't want to be considered overly critical (a merciless critic, as you said) or that he considers himself to be something other than a critic or as well as being a critic he is something else. Depends on context.

I agree with Ambarina.

Some more examples:

-- ¿Cómo te llamas? (What's your name?)
-- María.
-- ¿María qué? (María who?)
-- María a secas. (Just María.)


Hay muchos tipos de bondad. No existe la bondad a secas.
There are many kinds of goodness. There is no such thing as simple goodness.