Call to imprison a pair of bishops displaying cross (6)
I believe the answer is:
crabby
'cross' is the definition.
(I know that cross can be written as crabby)
'call to imprison a pair of bishops' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'bishops' could be 'bb' (a chess abbreviation for bishop written twice) and 'bb' is found within the answer.
'call' could be 'cry' (as in a bird's call) and 'cry' is present in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'displaying' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for crabby that I've seen before include "Ill-natured" , "petulant" , "Ill-tempered" , "Peevish" , "like one playing with sea? Just so" .)