Characters a side street confused (7)
I believe the answer is:
letters
'characters' is the definition.
(letter is a kind of character)
'a side street confused' is the wordplay.
'a side' becomes 'l' (abbreviation for left).
'confused' indicates an anagram.
'street' is an anagram of 'etters'.
'l'+'etters'='LETTERS'
(Other definitions for letters that I've seen before include "Literary culture" , "Items of mail" , "Missives" , "academic credentials" , "They are bound to look after tenants" .)