Thanks to Peto. Enjoyable, and with one answer that took (but shouldn’t have taken) me some time to parse satisfactorily. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 A consequence of abandoning Ulster (6)
RESULT : Anagram of(abandoning) ULSTER.
4 It’s said erroneously about having a love of cruelty (8)
SADISTIC : Anagram of(… erroneously) IT’S SAID + C(abbrev. for “circa”;about or approximately, when refering to time periods/years).
10 Sleeping with party worker Trump oddly ignored earlier (7)
DORMANT : DO(a party;a social function) + [ ANT(a social insect, one of whose caste are the workers) placed after(… earlier) “Trump” minus its 1st, 3rd and 5th letters(oddly ignored) ].
11 Away team’s players try to avoid being here (7)
OFFSIDE : OFF(away from here) + SIDE(one of the teams in a competition or match).
Defn: In football or rugby, players caught here are committing a foul.
12 Language lab’s earliest computer program (4)
LAPP : 1st letter of(…’s earliest) “lab” + APP(a computer programme for a mobile device).
Defn: … of the Laplanders.
13 Supporter‘s complaint involves Newcastle’s top player (10)
BENEFACTOR : BEEF(a complaint;a grouse) containing(involves) 1st letter of(…’s top) “Newcastle” + ACTOR(player on the stage or in a movie).
15 Hold with Deneuve’s refusal to embrace South African golfer (6)
NELSON : NON(refusal;negative reply in French, spoken by someone named Deneuve, Catherine for example) containing(to embrace) ELS(Ernie, South African golfer).
Defn: … executed by a wrestler on his/her opponent.
16 That which is disclosed after vicar leaves in high spirits (7)
ELATION : “revelation”(that which is disclosed;revealed) minus(after … leaves) “Rev”(short for “Reverend”, term of address for a vicar).
20 Posts Jack neglected to repair are unimportant (7)
OBSCURE : “jobs”(posts;positions at work) minus(…neglected) “J”(abbrev. for Jack, the court card in card games notation) + CURE(to repair;to make right).
21 Sally‘s kind to Danielle essentially (6)
SORTIE : SORT(kind, as in “some kind of animal did that”) plus(to) middle 2 letters of(… essentially) “Danielle“.
Defn: A sudden charge against the enemy from a defensive position.
24 Worker taken in by injured player’s jocularity (10)
PLEASANTRY : ANT(insect in the wordplay for 10 across) contained in(taken in by) anagram of(injured) PLAYER’S.
26 Minister to stop Tory leader at the start (4)
TEND : END(to stop;to finish) placed after(… at the start) 1st letter of(… leader) “Tory“.
28 Without anyone else to carry a couple of barrels of shellfish for instance (7)
ABALONE : ALONE(without anyone else) containing(to carry) 1st 2 letters of(a couple of) “barrels“.
29 Without having enough of a warning (7)
EXAMPLE : EX-(prefix denoting “without”, as in “ex-dividend”) plus(having) AMPLE(enough of something;not lacking in).
Defn: …;a lesson, as in “they made an example out of him to deter would-be …”.
30 Pub landlord gets to see Skinner’s finally introduced (8)
HOSTELRY : HOST(a landlord) plus(gets to) ELY(the cathedral city in Cambridgeshire which is the see;seat of authority of the Bishop of Ely) containing(… introduced) last letter of(…’s finally) “Skinner“.
31 Leave biretta off after king departs (4,2)
BEAT IT : Anagram of(… off) [ “biretta” minus(after … departs) “r”(abbrev. for “rex”;king in Latin) ].
Down
1 Reminiscent of Lowell’s last poem about residing in Split (8)
REDOLENT : Reversal of(… about) [ last letter of(…’s last) “Lowell” + ODE(peom) ] contained in(residing in) RENT(a split;a tear).
2 No cover charge here? (5,4)
STRIP CLUB : Cryptic defn: A place where there’s a charge to see no or little clothing covering the girls at the end of their performance.
3 Offering little hope bishop rejected disclosure of secret information (4)
LEAK : “bleak”(descriptive of a situation offering little hope of a favourable outcome) minus(… rejected) “b”(abbrev. for “bishop” in chess notation).
5 Chiefly coming from a lovable rogue (5,3)
ABOVE ALL : Anagram of(… rogue) A LOVABLE.
6 Working to conceal French breach of agreement (10)
INFRACTION : [IN ACTION](working;in operation) containing(to conceal) FR(abbrev. for “French”).
7 Fool putting away seconds gets wind (5)
TWIST : TWIT(a fool;an idiot) containing(putting away;eating or burying) S(abbrev. for “seconds” in time notation).
Defn: Pronounced like “wined”.
8 An opinion expressed by many people about her virginity (6)
CHERRY : CRY(an opinion expressed by many people, as in “the cry from the fans was for a change in manager”) containing(about) HER.
Defn: Slang for the state of being a virgin, as in “how many have lost their cherry before attaining majority?”
9 Absolute crackpot’s name removed (5)
UTTER : “nutter”(a crackpot;a crazy) minus(…’s … removed;has … removed) “n”(abbrev. for “name”).
Defn: …;complete.
14 The standard by which to judge a witty fool say (10)
TOUCHSTONE : Double defn: 2: An example of which;say, is the court jester in Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It, who is thought of as a witty or clever fool.
17 Working to locate boxing article without delay (2-3-4)
ON THE SPOT : [ ON(working, as with an electric appliance) + SPOT(to locate;to pick out) ] containing(boxing) THE(article in English grammar).
18 Mistaking danger to ancient city’s magnificence (8)
GRANDEUR : Anagram of(Mistaking) DANGER plus(to) UR(the city in ancient Mesopotamia).
19 Exhausted by unproductive strike (8)
DEADBEAT : DEAD(unproductive;giving no output, as in “a dead battery”) + BEAT(to strike).
22 Silence surrounding mountain climbing tragedies at last featured in sensational news story (6)
SPLASH : [SH!(an exclamation calling for silence) containing(surrounding) reversal of(… climbing, in a down clue) ALP(a high mountain, especially a snow-capped one) ] containing last letter of(… at last featured in) “tragedies“.
23 Tidiness of fringe’s first to go (5)
ORDER : “border”(fringe;edge) minus its 1st letter(…’s first to go).
25 Tests showing former partner has a debilitating disease (5)
EXAMS : EX(former partner) plus(has) A + MS(abbrev. for “multiple sclerosis”, a debilitating disease).
27 Contributing to Romola testifying recently (4)
LATE : Hidden in(Contributing to) “Romola testifying“
Dunno which clue held you up but for me it was ABALONE, for 2 reasons: a) I was too stupid to spot that ‘BA’ was a couple [of letters] of ‘BArrels’ & b) I didn’t and still don’t understand what that ‘for instance’ is doing there.
And a grumblette about DEADBEAT: ‘dead beat’ is certainly ‘tired’ but as a single word I think it’s exclusively an Americanism for ‘loser’, or ‘ineffectual’ if it’s adjectival.
Which sounds as though I didn’t enjoy the puzzle but I did. thanks to both.
Thanks Peto and scchua
Quite fun – I loved “a lovable rogue” and GRANDEUR.
A DNF for me, as I had UNAWARE instead of EXAMPLE, so missed ORDER and (on the) SPOT. The Indie site can be set up to indicate when you have a letter wrong, and there’s a “Check” in the Guardian, but the interactive FT seems to lack this.
Thanks to Peto and scchua. I too paused over DEADBEAT (though not ABALONE) and took a while getting the NE corner before I finally got OBSCURE, then STRIP CLUB, and finally LAPP, my LOI. Lots of fun.
Thanks Peto and schhua
This took three sittings to complete with the SE corner holding me out till the last – DEADBEAT (which I thought would have been two words for this meaning) and ORDER the last couple in.
Didn’t fully parse ABALONE – missing the ‘couple of barrels’ = BA and found the rest of the puzzle and interesting work-out.