Crossword Genius

New month, with lunar disruption in the dark (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nocturnal

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'dark' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'new month with lunar disruption in' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'month' becomes 'oct' (abbreviation for October).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'disruption' is an anagram indicator.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'lunar' with letters rearranged gives 'urnal'.
'n'+'oct'='noct'
'noct' going within 'urnal' is 'NOCTURNAL'.

'the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nocturnal that I've seen before include "Relating to the night" , "shunning the light" , "Active after dark" , "Night-time" , "dark hours?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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