One initiating attack runs in, dagger unsheathed, two seconds before other ranks (9)
I believe the answer is:
aggressor
'one initiating attack runs in dagger unsheathed two seconds before other ranks' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'one initiating attack runs in' is the wordplay.
'initiating' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'initiated' mean this).
'attack' becomes 'aggress' (synonyms).
'runs' becomes 'r' (cricket abbreviation).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
The first letter of 'one' is 'o'.
'aggress'+'r'='aggressr'
'o' inserted within 'aggressr' is 'AGGRESSOR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aggressor that I've seen before include "Assailant" , "The one who "started it"" , "One attacking without provocation" , "The one who attacks first" , "He started the fight" .)