I thought I was going to be in for another early finish when the NW, followed by the SW, quadrants went in quite quickly but then the NE took a little longer and the SE even more so.
An enjoyable puzzle with some good misdirection in places.
Across
1 Upset left nurse bitter (9)
RESENTFUL – an anagram (bitter) of LEFT NURSE
10 Long poem poet penned in Early English (6)
EPOPEE – POPE (poet) in (penned in) EE (Early English)
11 American entering gorge knocked over in fight (6)
FRACAS – A (American) in (entering) SCARF (gorge) reversed (knocked over)
13 Again prefer some film’s shock treatment (7)
RE-ELECT – REEL (some film) ECT (shock treatment)
14 Route, say, meandering, dropping round coastal feature (7)
ESTUARY – an anagram (meandering) of R[o]UTE SAY (route, say, … dropping round)
15 Call to animal initially used in odd parts of Perth (4)
PRUH – U[sed] (initially used) in P[e]R[t]H (odd parts of Perth)
16 Weak French wine replacing vintage in pot (8)
VINCIBLE – VIN (French wine) replacing cru (vintage) in cruCIBLE (pot)
18 Morag’s to kiss new groom (5)
PREEN – PREE (Morag’s to kiss) N (new)
19 Muses, perhaps, not once entertained by Hamlet, say, in reflective mode (6)
ENNEAD – NE (not once) in (entertained by) DANE (Hamlet, say) reversed (in reflective mode)
22 Type of grass – dog in film eats one then another one (6)
TOITOI – TOTO (dog in film) around (eats) I (one) plus I (another one)
23 Shakespeare’s to examine old delicacy about love (5)
COATE – CATE (old delicacy) around (about) O (love)
25 Ends in three theatrical companies producing Shakespearean tresses (8)
ELFLOCKS – [thre]E [theatrica]L (ends in three theatrical) FLOCKS (companies)
28 Hearing recalled catching trace of lung in this? (4)
RALE – EAR (hearing) reversed (recalled) around (catching) L[ung] (trace of lung)
29 No present-day treatment is incomprehensible (7)
OBSCURE – OBS (no present-day {obsolete}) CURE (treatment)
31 Display stand to be seen in Paris around many years (7)
ETAGERE – ETRE (to be seen in Paris) around AGE (many years)
32 Decision to limit strikers’ first stoppage (6)
ARREST – ARRET (decision) around (to limit) S[triker] (strikers’ first)
33 Spanish article enclosed hard example of former logic (6)
ELENCH – EL (Spanish article) ENC (enclosed) H (hard)
34 Perfect lecture or bore? (9)
PERFORATE – PERF (perfect) ORATE (lecture)
Down
1 Right about rise in gun handling (7)
RECEIPT – RT (right) around (about) PIECE (gun) reversed (rise in)
2 One readily giving up section of match (6)
SOFTIE – S (section) OF TIE (match)
3 Uniform feature seen in uniform in enclosure in film (7)
EPAULET – U (uniform) in PALE (enclosure) in ET (film)
4 No dropping Queen in river (4)
NEVA – NEV[er] A (no dropping Queen)
5 Edge of shot to slip provided one with first of catches – excellent (8)
TERRIFIC – [sho]T (edge of shot) ERR (slip) IF (provided) I (one) C[atches] (first of catches)
6 Curie’s reanalysis of waste material (5)
UREIC – an anagram (reanalysis) of CURIE
7 Marksman leading rifle brigade is sharp (5)
ACERB – ACE (marksman) RB (rifle brigade)
8 Throwing out lines after a copper’s left aboard launch? (10)
JACULATORY – A CU (copper) L (left) in (aboard) JATO (launch {jet-assisted take-off}) plus RY (lines)
9 Republican‘s book not mentioning God (4)
ESTH – double def. – the first being someone from the Republic of Estonia
12 Worship activating Troy’s altar (10)
ASTROLATRY – an anagram (activating) of TROY’S ALTAR
17 Inferior stuff in brass leading to complaint (8)
NECKBEEF – NECK (brass) BEEF (complaint)
20 One nicking some money runs round church (7)
NOTCHER – NOTE (some money) R (runs) around (round) CH (church)
21 Message from French Department supported by city gent (7)
DEPECHE – DEP (department) EC (city) HE (gent)
24 Former student extracting iodine from oxide (6)
ALUMNA – ALUM[i]NA (extracting iodine from oxide)
26 Succeed in capturing luminance in solar feature (5)
FLARE – FARE (succeed in) around (capturing) L (luminance)
27 Bulky topless dresses the ultimate in style (5)
OBESE – [r]OBES (topless dresses) [styl]E (the ultimate in style)
28 Head for Scotland having English in memory (4)
REAM – E (English) in RAM (memory)
30 Centre of missilery round here? (4)
SILO – [mis]SIL[ery] (centre of missilery) O (round)
Thanks S&B.
16 across was little short of wonderful. Must have been most satisfying to set.
OTOH while I put neva in at 4 down, it was only in retrospect that I understood where the ‘a’ came from.
I don’t suppose the NZ grass at 22 across is actually a pointer to which of the two set the puzzle.
4d. I had NERA as my answer. ER (dropping in) Na.
Can anyone expand on the justification for 9d?
CC@1: I still can’t quite see where the A comes from in 4dn.
hashertu@2: 9dn, ESTH is the abbreviation for the Book of Esther, and Wikipedia tells me that is one of only two books in the bible that doesn’t mention God.
I started this at an SF convention last Sunday, mostly whilst sitting at a desk trying to sell memberships of another convention. There were still several I had to check in Chambers when I got home on Tuesday.
Re 4dn. Chambers defines ‘never a’ as “no”. An example would be ‘there’s never a chance of …’ / ‘there’s no chance of …’.
Ah, yes. Or as in “There’s never a policeman around when you need one.” Except that I think of that as being nuanced differently to just plain “no”. Thanks.