Crossword Genius

Suspicious armed man dropped in with no credentials (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

paranoid

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'suspicious' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'man dropped in with no credentials' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'p' (abbreviation for pawn, a chess piece or 'man').
'dropped in with' becomes 'ara' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'credentials' becomes 'id' (I've seen this in other clues).
'p'+'ara'+'no'+'id'='PARANOID'

'armed' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for paranoid that I've seen before include "Paid Nora to have delusions?" , "Distrustful" , "Afflicted with delusions of persecution" , "Suffering delusions; road pain (anag.)" , "Irrationally obsessed by fear etc" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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