Dire Straits, never having succeeded, terribly cross (9)
I believe the answer is:
irritated
'cross' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for irritated that I've seen before include "put out" , "rubbed up the wrong way" , "Stimulated" , "Cross" , "Ratty" .)