Cross about tirade over large adult arthropod (9)
I believe the answer is:
tarantula
'arthropod' is the definition.
(I know that tarantula is a type of spider)
'cross about tirade over large adult' is the wordplay.
'cross' becomes 'T' (shape).
'about' becomes 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers).
'tirade' becomes 'rant' (both can mean an angry outburst).
'over large adult' becomes 'ula' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
't'+'a'+'rant'+'ula'='TARANTULA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tarantula that I've seen before include "Crawler" , "Creepy-crawly" , "spider to appear" , "A large hairy tropical spider" , "web developer" .)