State of being cross during meals (5)
I believe the answer is:
texas
'state' is the definition.
(Texas is an example)
'being cross during meals' is the wordplay.
'being cross' becomes 'x'.
'during' is an insertion indicator.
'meals' becomes 'teas' (tea is a kind of meal).
'x' placed into 'teas' is 'TEXAS'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for texas that I've seen before include "28th US state" , "Southern US state" , "Lone-Star state" , "Austin's state" , "American state, capital Austin" .)