No codger turned cross (5)
I believe the answer is:
tigon
'cross' is the definition.
(offspring of a lion and a tiger)
'no codger turned' is the wordplay.
'codger' becomes 'git' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'turned' says the letters should be written backwards.
'no'+'git'='nogit'
'nogit' backwards is 'TIGON'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tigon that I've seen before include "Big hybrid of the cat family" , "cat cross" , "Cross between two big cats" , "Cross between tiger and lion" , "Tiger-lion hybrid" .)