Cross after heading for beach to find litter (5)
I believe the answer is:
brood
'litter' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'cross after heading for beach' is the wordplay.
'cross' becomes 'rood' (term for a crucifix**).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'heading for' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'beach' is 'b'.
'rood' put after 'b' is 'BROOD'.
'to find' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for brood that I've seen before include "Sulk; incubate" , "Meditate moodily" , "Offspring" , "Clutch" , "Family of young birds" .)