Loads of experts crossing river (5)
I believe the answer is:
acres
'loads' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both quantities as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'experts crossing river' is the wordplay.
'experts' becomes 'aces' (ace is a kind of expert).
'crossing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'river' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for river).
'aces' placed around 'r' is 'ACRES'.
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acres that I've seen before include "farmland maybe?" , "Units of land measurement" , "One of them has 4840 square yards" , "Land area measures" , "Cares about the land measures" .)