Completing this puzzle was not helped by the enumeration being incorrect in 13a and 19a and, unless I have got something seriously wrong, by the preamble referring to “a famous artist or performer” when two of the solutions (19a & 32a) were novelists and a third (5d) is better known as a composer. The preamble also referred to ‘the initial letter of the deleted parts’ which would indicate the removal of more than one letter from the centre of a word but in two cases (30a & 24d) only a single letter was involved.
Having got the gripes out of the way, I would add that I enjoyed this puzzle despite the errors, though I needed Chambers and on-line assistance to confirm some of the wordplay, particularly the definition/association of the names to be removed from the famous people. The famous people were easier to determine than I at first feared with some coming to mind as soon as I had the removed element (eg 33a) or the checked letters (eg 9d & 21d). 32a did cause more of a problem though, not being familiar with this author’s works.
The initial letters of the deleted parts of clues spelt out ‘releasing the inner man or woman’ which would have been a help had I determined the phrase earlier in the solving process but it did at least confirm that names were to be removed from names.
It must have taken quite some time to produce this puzzle, particularly the thematic ‘names within names’ aspect, so well done Kea and thanks for the challenge.
*(XXX) – anagram
[x] – letter(s) removed or unused
{xxx} – central section removed as per preamble or ‘stomach’ of famous person
Across
1 BASER *(SABRE) – def. ‘more vi{ri}le’
5 DINKUM INK (fluid bl{eri}ot might use) in MUD (slander) reversed
10 ESTEEM [b]E{lfa}S[t] TEEM (be plentiful)
11 NABLA B (book) in AL{exandri}AN reversed
12 OPIFICER OP(work) IF (assuming) ICE (formality) R (rule) – def. ‘mechanic se{am}en no longer’
13 ORIF O{mar sha}RIF – MARSH (swamp) A = ‘Roman family’
15 VANESSL VANESS{a bel}L – ABEL homophone of ‘able’ (clever)
16 FLAY F (fi{sh-bo}ne) LAY (spread on a surface)
18 TILDE L[orry-drivers] in TIDE (trend) – def. ‘acc{id}ent’
19 ALISTACLEAN ALISTA{ir ma}CLEAN – [a]IRMA[n] = Emma = ‘whole’
21 EWEST [f]EWEST – def. ‘ne{nuph}ar in Scotland’
25 TOSE hidden in ‘paraquiTO SEen’ – def. ‘ca{ge-bi}rd’
26 ROLTREY RO{ger da}LTREY – *(Edgar) = GIRDA = ‘Frey’s wife’
28 ZEIN IE (that i{talian}s) in NZ (New Zealand) reversed
29 MUTATIVE VITA (c{ha}v) in MUTE (silence) reversed
30 ANNAT ANNA (four pi{e}ce) [sui]T
31 COTTID OTT (exc{itedn}ess) in CID (detectives)
32 NGAISH NGAI{o mar}SH – m (maiden) in oar (row) = OMAR = flourishing
33 NIONE NI{na sim}ONE – hidden in ‘seeN AS IMproving’ = fresh air
Down
1 BEHOVE B (Belgium) E (European) HOVE (coastal resort) – def. ‘su{nl}it’
2 ASPRAWL WARPS (twists) reversed in AL (Alabama) – def. ‘to{nishne}ss of the limbs, once’
3 STRINGIEST *(GRITTINESS) – def. ‘most long and th{ere}in’
4 REPAST RE (about) PAST (history) – def. ‘me{rcuri}al’
5 DMIOSTAKOVICH DMI{tri sh}OSTAKOVICH – Irish (Hibernian) with ‘t’ (time) replacing leader = TRISH = Pat
6 INFELT *(FINE) LT (lieutenant) – def. ‘de{mir}ep emotionally’
7 NAIL FILE *(LI{an}NE FAIL)
8 ULEX ULE (variant for hu{ntsvil}le) X (times)
9 MARVYE MARV{in ga}YE – *(gain) = INGA = Germanic god
14 ALLEGRETTO ALL (wholly) EGRET (white bi{ohaza}rd) TO (in contact with)
17 ASSEGAAI AGES (a long time) reversed in *(ASIA) – def. ‘Bo{rd}er could be …..’
20 ANEIRIN alternate letters in ‘tAuNtEd If RhIaNs’ – def. ‘Welsh ma{wki}n’s name’
21 ETHMAN ETH{el mer}MAN – ELM (hard wood) E[lde]R – Elmer Gantry is the title of a novel by Sinclair Lewis
22 TRATTS T (tenor) in START (fi{oritu}re away) reversed
23 ELEVON E (English) NOVEL (book) reversed – def. ‘….. roll and di{minuti}ve’
24 DYNODE NOD (dance) in DYE (we{a}ld)
27 JUNG N (northern) in JUG (ba{ndagi}ng up)