Noted a tailless rodent after initially following (6)
I believe the answer is:
famous
'noted' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'a tailless rodent after initially following' is the wordplay.
'tailless' means to remove the last letter (the tail of the word is removed).
'rodent' becomes 'mouse' (mouse is a kind of rodent).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'initially following' becomes 'f' (used when citing page numbers etc. I am not sure about the 'initially' bit.).
'mouse' with its last letter removed is 'mous'.
'a'+'mous'='amous'
'amous' put after 'f' is 'FAMOUS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for famous that I've seen before include "Widely-known" , "Well-known" , "Renowned, celebrated" , "Widely known and notable" , "Known and esteemed" .)