Crossword Genius

Walking through feathers, perhaps rather shabby (4-2-4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

down-at-heel

'rather shabby' is the definition.
(down-at-heel means shabby-looking)

'walking through feathers' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'feathers' could be 'down' (down is a kind of feathers) and 'down' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'perhaps' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for down-at-heel that I've seen before include "Looking shabby" , "Having a poor, shabby appearance" , "Generally shabby" , "In poor circumstances" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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