Monday Puzzle #33 or "Definition of Fray?"

I started to read a Pierre Loti book (reference Monday Puzzle #8). It is “An Iceland Fisherman” and I am enjoying it very much. So, I am happy that this crossword project has turned me onto an author I am enjoying.

Completed Puzzle #33 and only have a couple of answers that I don’t really know. They are:

1 across, “Unravel, as a cord.” FRAY. Fray, to me, means – well, I think of it in the context as “in the fray.” So, I would define it as something complicated or busy or where the action is. And, MW does provide, “a usually disorderly or protracted fight, struggle, or dispute” as a definition. It also provides, “a raveled place or worn spot (as on fabric).” The definitions of the verb fray are “1a. to wear (as an edge of cloth) by or as if by rubbing, b. to separate the threads at the edge of, 2. Strain, irritate.” The intransitive verb definitions are, “1. To wear out or into shreds, 2. To show signs of strain.”

So, I’m not sure if I agree with this clue. If the clue referenced a worn cord or shredding/torn cord. But, to unravel a cord…I, at least, don’t see that in these definitions.

The other one is another vocab issue. It is 8 down, “What usurers do.” LEND. MW tells me that a usurer is “one that lends money especially at an exorbitant rate.”

This puzzle had “Safe sword” as a clue – EPEE! I love it when epee or oleo show up in the puzzle.