Frantic detectives directed across river (10)
I believe the answer is:
distraught
'frantic' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'detectives directed across river' is the wordplay.
'detectives' becomes 'dis' (Detective Inspectors, DIs).
'directed across river' becomes 'traught' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'dis'+'traught'='DISTRAUGHT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for distraught that I've seen before include "crazy" , "Very worried and upset" , "wild" , "in a state" , "At one's wits - end" .)