The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 2 plus 5 letter word IN CHECK
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
I
N
C
H
E
C
K
More clues leading to the result IN CHECK
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Like someone wearing tartan/unable to act" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case like someone wearing tartan/unable to act = in check.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.