Thank you to Matilda. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9. Good place to leave a boat in Alaska? (9)
ANCHORAGE : Cryptic defn: Name of a port(a good place to leave a boat anchored) in Alaska.
10. Herb mixture contains a treatment for addiction (5)
REHAB : Anagram of(… mixture) HERB containing(contains) A.
11. Some poorly crafted material (5)
LYCRA : Hidden in(Some) “poorly crafted“.
12. Surprising success for nightmare? (4,5)
DARK HORSE : DARK(the night, as in “They hunt in the dark”) + MARE(a female horse).
Defn: …/a horse or a team, say, who wins against the odds.
13. From the air, glass oddly is a chemical weapon (4,3)
TEAR GAS : Letters in the odd positions of(From … oddly) “the“,” air“, and “ glass“.
14. Each class function (7)
PERFORM : PER(each, as in “rate per hour”) + FORM(a class in school consisting of students in a specific year of education).
17. Pub diet for slimmers? (5)
LOCAL : LO-CAL(or low-cal or low-calories, describing a diet for those wanting to be slimmer.
Defn: …/watering hole near to your home or office, and which you frequently go to.
19. Flabby adipose tissue, primarily (3)
FAT : 1st letters, respectively, of(…, primarily) “Flabby adipose tissue“.
20. Old jail bird, not quite silver (5)
GULAG : “gull”(a sea bird) minus its last letter(not quite) + AG(symbol for the chemical element, silver).
Defn: …/labour camps in the former Soviet Union.
21. Meet, for example, to cover the international science fiction premieres (7)
SATISFY : SAY(for example) containing(to cover) “the international science fiction“.
22. As canaries missing a cuckoo (7)
ARSENIC : Anagram of(… cuckoo) [ “canaries” minus(missing) “a“].
Defn: The chemical element symbolised by …
24. Suspect image of Matilda with one wearing knitted pattern (9)
IDENTIKIT : I(Matilda, the setter, using the self-referential pronoun) plus(with) [ I(Roman numeral for “one” contained in(wearing) anagram of(… pattern) KNITTED ].
Defn: …/picture of a possible criminal constructed from witnesses’ accounts.
26. Rock band‘s joint (5)
ELBOW : Double defn: 1st: An English …
28. Ask softly, then take charge (5)
PLEAD : P(abbrev. for “piano”, a musical instruction to play softly) plus(then) LEAD(to take charge/command).
29. Itinerant composer appearing in Albert Hall performance, popular at last (9)
TRAVELLER : RAVEL(Maurice, French composer) contained in(appearing in) last letters, respectively, of(… at last) “Albert Hall performance, popular“.
Down
1, 13. Far-fetched accounts and short stories? On the contrary (4,5)
TALL TALES : [ TALL TALES ](on the contrary/literally, not, “short stories”).
2. Each cat essentially spies a tree (6)
ACACIA : Middle letters, respectively, of(… essentially) “Each cat” + CIA(abbrev. for the Central Intelligence Agency, the US organisation of spies).
3. See Senegal’s rebuilt city (3,7)
LOS ANGELES : LO!(as in “lo and behold!”/see!) + anagram of(… rebuilt) SENEGAL’S.
4. Troubled sleep is over for bears (6)
PANDAS : Reversal of(… is over, in a down clue) [ SAD(troubled by, say, grief or disappointment) + NAP(a short sleep) ].
Not a bear, but still, a lesser (or red) panda:
5. Shabby mandate, mostly mine (8)
DECREPIT : “decree”(mandate/an official order) minus its last letter(mostly) + PIT(a mine/a large hole in the ground from which minerals or stones are quarried).
6. Principal in hospital after car crash (4)
ARCH- : H(abbrev. for “hospital”) placed below(after, in a down clue) anagram of(… crash) CAR.
Defn: Prefix denoting “principal”/chief.
7. Fancy Chelsea tractor leaving street to get fuel (8)
CHARCOAL : Anagram of(Fancy) [ “Chelsea tractor” minus(leaving) “street” ].
Defn: …, made not from coal, but from wood.
… and not just a fuel: 
8. Honour to receive Oscar for musical instrument (4)
OBOE : OBE(post-nominals standing for an “Officer of the Order of the British Empire”, a class in the British honours system) containing(to receive) O(letter represented by “Oscar” in the phonetic alphabet).
13. See 1
15. Recorded missing the start of first degree, being disorganised (10)
REGISTERED : Anagram of(…, being disorganised) [ “first” minus its 1st letter(missing the start of …) + DEGREE].
16, 27. Say Abracadabra
please? (5,4)
MAGIC WORD : Double defn: 1st: An example of which/say is …., used in stage magic tricks; and 2nd: “…” is refered to as the magic word, for example, by parents teaching their children to say “please” when asking for something, which said magic word will make happen.
18. They reflect as lion, say, moans audibly (4-4)
CAT’S-EYES : CAT(an example of which/say, is the lion) + homophone of(… audibly) “sighs”(moans/sounds expressing sadness, say).
Defn: … as guides to drivers on the road.
19. What one might do on a windy day to test opinion (3,1,4)
FLY A KITE : Double defn: What one might do: 1st: on a windy day, literally; and 2nd: taken metaphorically, to test opinion/to put out feelers to gauge the potential response to an action considered for the future.
22. Like arty composition getting lost (6)
ASTRAY : AS(like/comparable to) + anagram of(… composition) ARTY.
23. Unable to disperse large cloud (6)
NEBULA : Anagram of(… to disperse) UNABLE.
Defn: … in outer space.
24. Initially important guessing game (1-3)
I-SPY : Cryptic defn: The game where one has to guess the object clued only by “I spy with my little eye something beginning with(initially) …” followed by a letter of the alphabet.
25. Rising water regularly this deep (4)
TIDE : 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th letters of(regularly) “this deep“.
27. See 16
Thanks Matilda and scchua. I thought this was a very well judged Quiptic – a couple of clues with slightly tricksy parsing, which might give beginners something to chew on (TRAVELLER and CHARCOAL, perhaps?), but you could solve nearly everything here from the definition alone. As far as I can see, ARSENIC is the only clue with a definition that is at all misleading.
Very enjoyable. Lovely stuff, Matilda.
I’ll add the lift&separate of DARK HORSE as a bit chewy, and I couldn’t really parse I-SPY.
I’m one of those who’d prefer an anagram indicator if you’re removing letters that aren’t in order (7D), and not sure I like the count restarting for ‘oddly’ each word (13A), although I can see the logic.
Still, my quibbles aside, a fun workout.
Thanks Matilda and scchua.
Thanks Matilda and scchua
Very nice. I loved LOCAL and ARSENIC.
I was held up by having FLAG instead of KITE (as “run the flag up the flagpole and see sho salutes”, as having a very similar meaning), which gave me an unparsed IDENTIFIT. TRAVELLER eventually put me right.
Lots of fun & nothing too tricky. Thanks Matilda & scchua.
One for absolute beginners and those in a great hurry. I got it all done even before I finished making breakfast, usually I’m delighted if I get there before my cup of tea gets cold.
I would love to see more quiptics at this level. My kids like to have a go, but usually I have to pick and choose specific clues to direct them towards. Today I reckon they’ll get quite a lot filled in unaided.
Hurrah. Found this easier than the Monday cryptic, for a change. Enjoyable in a non-taxing sort of way. Briefly caught out by As for ARSENIC, as usual.
GULAG – let’s hope these are “old”. Wiki has “The legal practice of sentencing convicts to penal labor, though restrained, was not fully abolished and continues to this day, although to a far more limited capacity, in the Russian Federation.” And in light of current events……
Thanks Matilda, and scchua. And as always love the illustrations.
Perfect stuff for a Quiptic!
A nice mix of the very easy and slightly chewy. I would have done this a lot quicker if I hadn’t persisted with trying to construct something with PROM for TRAVELLER. I’m not sure how easily I would have got ARSENIC if I hadn’t seen it before.
Jim @2 – the way I look at it, the clue is telling you to subtract a group of letters from the fodder – ie you’re not meant to read STREET literally as a meaningful word – so a secondary anagram indicator isn’t really necessary.
Widdersbel @9 – I can see that argument, but it strikes me as a bit of a get-out for the setter!
Pretty straightforward, which isn’t a criticism. Sometimes you need an easy win. I didn’t parse TRAVELLER, but it couldn’t be anything else from the crossers. I liked CHARCOAL.
The consensus seems to be that this was an excellent quiptic, and I happily fit in with that. Thanks, Matilda and scchua.
PeterT@ 8: another PROM here, and I never did work out where the T…LER came from.
Just the right level for a Quiptic. I got off on the wrong foot by whacking in Fairbanks for 9 across. It parses! The crossers soon put me right.
Thanks Matilda and scchua.
The only version of I SPY that I recall playing used colours, not letters: I spy with my little eye something that is red. Perhaps we did this so the game could include kids who knew their colours, but hadn’t yet learnt to spell. Anyway, that (along with the hyphen) held me up for a while.
Liked DARK HORSE, DECREPIT (loi).
New: SAFE WORD.
I could not parse 26ac (never heard of that rock band), 3d; 24d, 19d.
Thanks, both.
Good Quiptic with one or two chewier clues.
I liked ARSENIC, IDENTIKIT and CHARCOAL. Jim @2/10, there is always discussion about the need for more than one anagrind in subtraction anagrams. My view is that if the compound word is anagrammed first there is no need for a second anagrind because Chelsea tractor could resolve to CHARCOALstreet as one possible answer. If street came first it would be necessary to have two anagrinds. However, I know that the Times/Sunday Times always insist on having two anagrinds if the letters are out of order in the compound word; and maybe so do some others.
Thanks Matilda and scchua.
Michelle @16, I think SAFE WORD is in the daily Cryptic, not the Quiptic.
DougV @15 – we did colours when the kids were smaller, graduated to letters and finally ended up with absolute anarchy, eg “something beginning with O” – “One cow”, “Beginning with T” “Two cows”, “Beginning with N” “No cows”, or “Beginning with C” “Beach”…
Thought ARSENIC on the verge for a Quiptic, but it is supposed to be for beginners so useful to show the trick off? Helps that we’d had silver used to clue its chemical symbol, which might have tipped off one or two that hadn’t seen something similar before. I personally liked the way that regularly could be read as both part of the clue and definition in TIDE – very neat.
Now isn’t it strange how we do things differently as children. I’ve only ever met I-spy beginning with letters.
TT@12 said it very well.
Too bad most of the opinions here (mine included) aren’t from the beginners at which this is aimed!
I agree this was a very good Quiptic. I particularly liked 12ac (DARK HORSE), but there were plenty of others to smile about.
To me, 9ac (ANCHORAGE) is the one weak clue. I take it to be a double definition, not a cryptic definition (since in the latter interpretation there’s nothing cryptic about it). That is, I take it to be a clue for the common noun “anchorage”, followed by “in Alaska” to clue the city name “Anchorage”. But it’s still a weak clue, as the two definitions are too close to the same thing: presumably the reason the city is so named is because it provides anchorage to boats.
(I’ve been to the city, by the way. I don’t particularly recommend it, except that it’s the way to get to the spectacular Denali National Park.)
Dr 21 I think the beginners won’t even know this blog exists! Most of the commenters seem to be taking the point of view of the beginners, and I agree that this more Quiptic than most of them. Beginners might even find 26A easier than I did because the band started after I stopped listening!
Ted @22: Perhaps you would have been happier with 9ac if the solution had been, as Apteryx @14 points out, FAIRBANKS.
Thanks Matilda and scchua.
Well crafted to be a just the right level of complexity, misdirection and GK. I enjoyed thos.
Thanks M&S.
Lovely quiptic, for a change, exactly what a quiptic should be, encouraging for beginners.
Would be nice to see more beginners comment rather than the old hands to which this must be a stroll.
I am a beginner and have been for 3 years … occasionally I do a cryptic, usually Mondays. I love Matilda’s Quiptic as the range of clue styles makes it fun, and there’s always a chewy or two. Usually I get them all within 3 days, but this one I could not get charcoal and decrepit, and having just found out about this site, could not resist looking up one that I got, but did not get the parsing. ‘Fancy’ as meaning an anagram is new to me so I am making progress. Thanks Matilda – you are one of my favourite setters
Thanks all round to Matilda and scchua for a great Quiptic and blog. As often, I’m late to the party but never mind, it was all enjoyable anyway.
Thanks also to the excellent commenters who greatly enliven proceedings.
Talking of commenters, and late to the party, in case cobl@31 from last week is reading this can I just politely ask: please don’t do that. Giving week B’s solution in week A’s blog is not fair – it seems to me – on those who for any reason haven’t seen it yet. Please please just let the blogger do their job. Thank you.