Thin rope in bad condition, time for chain (10)
I believe the answer is:
cordillera
'chain' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'thin rope in bad condition time' is the wordplay.
'thin rope' becomes 'cord' (I've seen this in another clue).
'in bad condition' becomes 'ill' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'time' becomes 'era' (an era is a period of time).
'cord'+'ill'+'era'='CORDILLERA'
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cordillera that I've seen before include "Extensive range" , "System or group of parallel mountain ranges" , "chain" .)