Fanatic had ship crossing river (9)
I believe the answer is:
hardliner
'fanatic' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'had ship crossing river' is the wordplay.
'ship' becomes 'liner' (liner is a kind of ship).
'crossing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'river' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for river).
'had'+'liner'='hadliner'
'hadliner' going around 'r' is 'HARDLINER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hardliner that I've seen before include "Uncompromising person" , "dogmatic type" , "Militant" , "politician" , "Resolute advocate" .)