Crossword Genius

Person covering ground, state policeman initially going in front (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

paver

'person covering ground' is the definition.

'state policeman initially going in front' is the wordplay.
'state' becomes 'aver' (I've seen this before**).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'going in front' says to put letters next to each other.
The first letter of 'policeman' is 'p'.
'aver' after 'p' is 'PAVER'.

(Another definition for paver that I've seen is " Person preparing the way".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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