Evidence of groove damage of TT setup?

Herman, I guess I was expecting possible answers such as: "Distortion in dynamic passages is never a symptom of improper tracking." or "90% of the time distortion during passages is due to groove damage.", etc.

I was looking for general guidelines.

I'm not playing it very loud at all so I don't think it's a systemic issue. I agree that I'll have to eventually make adjustments to see what helps but, was hoping to get oriented into the areas to look first; those that are typically the culprit in exhibiting these symptoms.

Play a few records with dynamic passages you know to be undamaged. If you hear distortion, it's probably an alignment (including VTF) issue. If not, welcome to the world of junk vinyl.

How old is the vinyl? Much of stuff from the '60s and '70s is shot, because people were using "el-cheapo" record players with pizo-electric ceramic cartridges. Tracking at 5+ grams....VTF was adjusted by securing a penny, nickle, or dime above the cartridge :-) The highs were stripped right out of the grove...loss of treble and hiss.

By the '80's, better tables with MM cartridges were used by many more people, as mid-fi spread.

Fatparrot is entirely correct about much older vinyl, especially rock albums, but Sidssp has what discovered what I've also found to be a very plausible workaround. I recently upgraded from my used Shure V15/Denon 103R duo to a brand new Zyx Bloom. The Bloom is clearly riding in a different part of the groove, as surface noise has been greatly reduced on all my LPs. I also have a number of well loved albums damaged either by me in my youthful ignorance or someone else prior to their trip to the thrift store. The majority of these were unlistenable as system resolution has increased, and most are now completely enjoyable.

Of course, as Herman and Bill point out, your alignment needs to be correct before you can make any of these judgments. Gotta use a known good record for that.

In my own experience, many things that in my first few years of vinyl, I blamed on groove damage or vinyl inadequacies, turned out to be a result of my own cleaning or tuning inadequacies so I would look there first. I continue to be amazed at how durable vinyl is if reasonably cared for. I find that if a record is really trashed, it is trashed throughout - not just at the peaks. This is, of course, a gross generalization but that's what you asked for.