Carry monstrous head of idol (5)
I believe the answer is:
totem
'idol' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'carry monstrous head' is the wordplay.
'carry' becomes 'tote' (toting is a kind of carrying).
'head' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'monstrous' is 'm'.
'tote'+'m'='TOTEM'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for totem that I've seen before include "Venerated object" , "This pole is carved and painted by N American Indians" , "Object adopted by N American Indians as emblem" , "Emblem of a clan" , "token" .)