Thank you to Chandler. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. First sign of this disorder to get luxury food (7)
TRUFFLE : 1st letter of(First sign of) “this” + RUFFLE(disorder/disarrange, say, someone’s neatly combed hair).
A-hunting we go:
for: 
5. Exceptional child supporting tips on geometry around Day One (7)
PRODIGY : PRO(supporting/in favour of) 1st and last letters of(tips on) “geometry” containing(around) [ D(abbrev. for “day”) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) ].
10. Celebrity with expression of annoyance making a comeback (4)
STAR : Reversal of(… making a comeback) RATS!(like “Drat!”, an expression of annoyance).
11. Notice one pulling vehicle in imposing civic structure (5,5)
CLOCK TOWER : CLOCK(to notice/to watch) + TOWER(one pulling vehicle, eg. a broken-down car).
12. Main changes in outskirts of Bolton for one collecting rubbish (6)
BINMAN : Anagram of(… changes) MAIN contained in(in) 1st and last letters of(outskirts of) “Bolton“.
… or Lonnie Donegan’s old man:
13. German city defends good feeling surviving from the past (8)
HANGOVER : HANOVER(German city) containing(defends) G(abbrev. for “good”).
14. Bachelor carried a rickety improvised obstruction (9)
BARRICADE : B(abbrev. for “Bachelor”) + anagram of(… rickety) [CARRIED A].
16. Hands heard having a break (5)
PAUSE : Homophone of(… heard) “paws”(informal term for a person’s hands).
17. Soprano has to manage range (5)
SCOPE : S(abbrev. for “soprano” in music scores) plus(has) COPE(to manage/to deal effectively with).
19. Find out case is damaged by time in wet weather (9)
ASCERTAIN : Anagram of(… is damaged) CASE plus(by) [ T(abbrev. for “time”) contained in(in) RAIN(wet weather) ].
23. Crowd with difficulty entering Florida in a small group of boats (8)
FLOTILLA : [ LOT(crowd/a particular group of people, as in “the in-crowd”) plus(with) ILL(a difficulty/roblem) ] contained in(entering) FA(abbrev. for Florida, the US state).
24. Conceit? It is shown in leading group facing yard (6)
VANITY : IT contained in(is shown in) [ VAN(the leading group/the forefront of an advancing group, such as a military force) plus(facing) Y(abbrev. for “yard”, the unit of distance) ].
26. Bad local I suspect admitting first of infractions? Disgracefully bad! (10)
DIABOLICAL : Anagram of(… suspect) BAD LOCAL I containing(admitting) 1st letter of(first of) “infractions“.
27. Women in rear of convertible that could be red (4)
WINE : W(abbrev. for “women”) + IN + last letter of(rear of) “convertible“.
28. Continuous flows of online content for groups of schoolchildren (7)
STREAMS : Double defn: 1st: … being downloaded; and 2nd: Schoolchildren grouped according to age and/or ability and/or the subjects they wish to pursue.
29. Wore latest in gear kept in varied depots (7)
SPORTED : Last letter of(latest in) “gear” contained in(kept in) containing(varied) DEPOTS.
Down
2. Eccentric retains Greek tipple (7)
RETSINA : Anagram of(Eccentric) RETAINS.
Defn: …/wine flavoured with resin.
3. Assembly for all to see in fashion (5)
FORUM : U(symbol for “Universal”, which on a film certificate classifies that film as being suitable for all to see) contained in(in) FORM(to fashion/to shape).
Defn: An …/a conference.
4. Terse US city conservative in charge (7)
LACONIC : LA(abbrev. for Los Angeles, US city) + CON(abbrev. for “Conservative”, a member of the Conservative Party) + I/C(abbrev. for “in charge”).
Defn: …/using very few words.
6. Heading off, stopping activity to remove leaves from a garden (6)
RAKING : 1st letter deleted from(Heading off) “braking”(stopping/slowing down a vehicle or moving mechanism to a stop).
7. Hygienic item is recycled or donated (9)
DEODORANT : Anagram of(recycled) OR DONATED.
8. Old guys in hot spring, reportedly (7)
GEEZERS : Homophone of(…, reportedly) “geysers”(hot springs, each intermittently sending a tall column of water and steam into the air).
9. Guy initially rambling with this anecdote getting to last a long time? (2,3,8)
GO THE DISTANCE : Anagram of(… rambling …) [ 1st letter of(… initially) “Guy” plus(with) THIS ANECDOTE ].
15. Trustworthy sales type found on university chart (9)
REPUTABLE : REP(short for “representative”, a sales person/type) placed above(found on, in a down clue) U(abbrev. for “university”) + TABLE(a chart/a display of systematically arranged data).
18. Some parcel listed for a member of the orchestra? (7)
CELLIST : Hidden in(Some) “parcel listed“.
20. Completely cover cut after breaking even (7)
ENVELOP : LOP(to cut/to chop off) placed below(after, in a down clue) anagram of(breaking) EVEN.
21. Passionate figure in fashionable Kent area (7)
INTENSE : TEN(a number/figure) contained in(in) [ IN(fashionable/currently popular) + SE(abbrev. for the South East region of England, which includes Kent County) ].
22. At the outset, skiers love avoiding loads on mountain’s winding course? (6)
SLALOM : 1st letters, respectively, of(At the outset) “skiers love avoiding loads on mountain“.
Defn: … for a ski race down a mountainside, avoiding or keeping within the poles marking the course.
25. Note large water jug that’s more modern (5)
NEWER : N(abbrev. for “note”) + EWER(a large water jug with a wide mouth).
FORUM was the only one I didn’t parse. The unknown British film classification was the culprit.
Everything else fell into place. Good puzzle, thanks Chandler & scchua.
Fitted the bill nicely for a Quiptic, though GEEZERS / GEYSERS will raise eyebrows. The latter is one of those words that I ever pronounce the same way twice in a row.
Thanks to Chandler and Scchua
Thank you scchua for your entertaining blog and illustrations. I remember the Lonnie Donegan song very well. Does that mean I still have mushroom inside? 🙂 And that is a very rickety barricade.
In 23 across, the official state abbreviation for Florida is FL rather than FA. A nice puzzle overall, apart from the stately issue there.
Thanks to Chandler and scchua.
GEEZERS is interesting from an ‘aural wordplay’ perspective. Down here, influenced by both British and American pronunciations, both geezer and guyzer are heard. The use of ‘guy’ in the wordplay would indicate the latter, but not so.
Crispy@2. Exactly.
Woops wot larx@4. That’s 2 suspect/debatable clues (including geezer). Not ideal for a Quiptic.
Having checked, Chambers has both pronunciations of GEYSERS in the entry, but it’s a homophone for me.
I whipped through this and didn’t quibble the answers so I thought it was a good Quiptic.
Thank you to Chandler and scchua
Nicely pitched quiptic. I hardly ever notice solving times but happened to spot that I started it on the hour and had finished by 14 minutes past 🙂
I didn’t spot the Florida quibble as the definition jumped out anyway, but subsequently tried to see if there’s an alternative parse that uses FL not FA… to no avail.
Thanks both
Thanks Chandler and scchua
Mostly a good quiptic. I’m not happy that chart and table are equivalent – we had this elsewhere recently. A chart is a graphical representation of data; said data could well be in a table.
Florida is FLA in Lou Reed’s Walk on the wild side, though that doesn’t help.
(Little known fact: bassist Herbie Flowers double tracked electric and acoustic bass on the song – that way he got paid twice!)
Very nice Quiptic puzzle, I think it is a good one for beginners even though I wondered about the Florida abbreviation (but was too lazy to google it).
I was fine with geezer/geyser.
Thanks, both.
Good start to the week. Noticed the FL/FA mix up and like Rob T @9 tried to see if I could find an alternative parse but didn’t.
Thanks both
Having lived in Florida, FL and FLA are both common and acceptable abbreviations, but I’ve never heard of FA.
Thanks to scchua for the blog and everyone for comments. Just to respond re Wotlarx @4 that Chambers has both Fa and FL as abbreviations for Florida – I checked this as a matter of course before submitting the puzzle.
Well Chambers needs to make its mind up. FA is already taken. 🙂
I prefer Lou Reed’s FLA. Thanjs muffin for the memory.
Thanks, Chandler and scchua. Exemplary Quiptic, I thought – just right to help warm up my brain first thing this morning.
Chandler is correct – Fa appears in Chambers as an abbreviation for Florida. I’m not familiar with it but I suspect it relates to one of the many other Floridas around the world rather than the US state.
I knew fa about it …
Because the Chambers app sometimes misses out detail, I had a look in the actual book and it does specify:
Fa. abbrev: Florida (US state)
Hmm, wonder where they got that from!
[Muffin @10. Herbie also wrote the Clive Dunn hit “Grandad”, but don’t tell anyone]
[Crispy @20
He was mostly a sessions musician, but he was a member of John Williams’s band Sky, along with, among others, Francis Monkman, ex-Curved Air (in turn named after the Terry Riley track “A rainbow in curved air”)]
[Muffin @21. I saw him a couple of times with Sky. His party piece was playing the tuba. I also saw him at the Edinburgh fringe where he talked about various recordings in his career. Most bits ended with him telling us how much he got paid for that gig. Very amusing. He was very laconic]
[Crispy
Yes, a track on one of the Sky albums has him playing the tuba. It’s called “Tuba smarties”!]
I have never in my 48 years, almost all of it spent in the USA, seen Fa. for Florida. It’s FL if you’re sending a letter, and Fla. if you’re writing a newspaper article (the AP style guide still prescribes the older state abbreviations). I do not care that Chandler found it in some dodgy corner of the dictionary. His clue yields FLOTILLLA.
The geysers at Yellowstone are definitely pronounced guyzer. I don’t know where there are any British geysers that you’ve founda way to pronounce GEEZER, but I’m not surprised by odd homophones here any more.
Mrpenney @24. The British geyser is a domestic water heater, usually, but not always, pronounced geezer.
mrp @24
The term geyser is also used for a wall-mounted kitchen water heater – these used to be common, but it’s ages since I’ve seen one. I’ve only heard these pronounced “geezers”.
[Muffin @23. “Sky 2”. The sleeve notes say that Tristan Fry, the drummer, denies playing the trumpet on the track]
Crispy/Muffin: thanks.
[As an aside from my earlier comment, the AP abbreviation for California is Calif., while the Postal Service abbreviation is CA. In many casual settings, people shorten it to Cal (as in, he’s from Southern Cal), and in hip-hop culture it’s Cali. So you can use anywhere from the first two to the first five letters of the state and be able to justify it!]
Lots to like in this puzzle, especially 18d 🙂
Since geyser can be pronounced either way, the aural wordplay in 8d GEEZERS is perfectly good, and the clue was one of my favourites.
I too tried unsuccessfully to parse 23a FLOTILLA with FLA as the state, but the clue was gettable and there is some justification for FA, so Chandler’s construction is perfectly satisfactory.
Thanks Chandler and sschua for the colourful fun and blog.
This was an excellent Quiptic. I found it toward the easier end, but maybe I’d had one more cup of coffee than usual before tackling it.
Where I live, in the US, we would never pronounce “geyser” this way, but I actually remembered somehow that this pronunciation existed. Anyway, there’s certainly nothing wrong with the clue.
I’ve also never seen Fa as an abbreviation for Florida. If it’s in Chambers, though, I guess it’s fair game.
My only tiny quibble is that I can’t see how to make the word “with” work in the cryptic reading for 9dn. If the clue said “with rambling” rather than “rambling with”, it’d make sense (at the cost of utterly ruining the surface).
Apparently in South Africa, a geyser is an electric storage water heater, rather than the UK gas instantaneous type.
Thanks for an enjoyable quiptic, Chandler. No raised eyebrows from me.
FA is the abbreviation for Philadelphia so I’ve heard
[Very late to the party, sorry – I’ve been hors de combat.
I just wanted to say that I did a gig with Herbie Flowers on bass and tuba a few years back. A delightful bloke and great musician.]
Hugo @33. This Philadelphian has never seen or used “FA.” It’s PHL most often, while “Phila” is the more formal abbreviation. I don’t even see our Spanish-speaking neighbors use FA even though the Spanish spelling is “Filadelfia.”