Will the real Beelzebub please come back! This was far too easy and took no longer than a typical weekday cryptic. There were too many write-ins (for me), so much so that by the end of my first pass through the clues I only had a handful or so to return to.
These then went in quickly as there were very few grid entries that I hadn’t come across before and the ones I hadn’t met previously had very obvious wordplay. This was almost the exact opposite of the Beelzebub I blogged four weeks ago when 60% of the clues involved a word with which I was not familiar.
Across
1 Construction of instant homes provokes great surprise (12)
ASTONISHMENT – an anagram of (construction of) INSTANT HOMES
10 The rest gun for the audience (5)
PEACE – a homophone (for the audience) of ‘piece’ (gun)
11 Contemptuous fellow never interrupting sermon (7)
SNEERER – NE’ER (never) in (interrupting) SER (sermon)
12 Extraordinary to lose acceleration after receiving energy and force? Not much help (8)
UNUSEFUL – UNUSU[a]L (extraordinary to lose acceleration) around (after receiving) E (energy) F (force)
13 See edges of mesa here? (4)
LOMA – LO (see) M[es]A (edges of mesa) with an extended def.
17 Little hesitation in Columbus in stormy clouds (12)
CUMULONIMBUS – UM (little hesitation) in an anagram (stormy) of COLUMBUS IN
18 Sound quality less aggressive, encompassing bass (6)
TAMBER – TAMER (less aggressive) around (encompassing) B (bass)
20 Recalled deep cut initially getting ligature (4)
AESC – C[ut] (cut initially) SEA (deep) reversed (recalled)
21 Bone regularly found in Dublin Bay (4)
ULNA – dUbLiN bAy (regularly found in Dublin Bay)
22 Selection of pieces on at Aldeburgh – Beethoven work? (6)
SONATA – hidden in (selection of) ‘pieceS ON AT Aldeburgh’
23 Like Chambers, liable to be edited with a patch (12)
ALPHABETICAL – an anagram (to be edited) of LIABLE A PATCH
27 Malaysian city seeing return of American tribe (4)
IPOH – HOPI (American tribe) reversed (seeing return of)
28 Old disparaged Minister in predicament beside toilet (4-4)
MESS-JOHN – MESS (predicament) JOHN (toilet)
29 Writer’s translation filling most of demand (7)
SCRIBAL – CRIB (translation) in (filling) SAL[e] (most of demand)
30 Edinburgh fool to disturb Scots after returning it (5)
EEJIT – JEE (to disturb Scots) reversed (after returning) IT
31 Dance audition involved dancing (12)
TRIPUDIATION – TRIP (dance) plus an anagram (involved) of AUDITION
Down
2 Nurse on spot, embracing one voluptuously (9)
SENSUALLY – SEN (nurse) plus SULLY (spot) around (embracing) A (one)
3 Tense, tense and tense again, having concealed gold (4)
TAUT – T (tense) T (tense again) around (having concealed) AU (gold)
4 Provoked requirement under governance (7)
NEEDLED – NEED (requirement) LED (under governance)
5 ‘Protuberance covered in tin’ does awkwardly, describing front of some cars (9)
SNUB-NOSED – NUB (protuberance) in (covered in) SN (tin) plus an anagram (awkwardly) of DOES
6 Direct line into border area (4)
HELM – L (line) in (into) HEM (border area)
7 One thousand anomalies mostly developed in obsession with notes (9)
MELOMANIA – M (one thousand) plus an anagram (developed) of ANOMALIE[s] (anomalies mostly)
8 Mistakes not seeing repetition in sexual desire (4)
EROS – ER[r]O[r]S (mistakes not seeing repetition)
9 Lantern acts curiously, transmitting heat (11)
TRANSCALENT – an anagram (curiously) of LANTERN ACTS
10 Etiquette expert once to bet about Conservative: upper-class and very famous (11)
PUNCTUALIST – PUNT (to bet) around (about) C (Conservative) plus U (upper-class) A-LIST (very famous)
14 Push sahib, out of sorts, to get Indian military position (9)
SUBASHIP – an anagram (out of sorts) of PUSH SAHIB
15 American cake? Stuff we’ve had before’s ready (9)
CORNBREAD – CORN (stuff we’ve had before) BREAD (ready)
16 Facial hair is a touch masculine, possibly (9)
MUSTACHIO – an anagram (possibly) of IS A TOUCH M
19 Card in part of India to join the navy (2,2,3)
GO TO SEA – TOSE (card) in GOA (part of India)
24 Sandal: Australian picked up right one (4)
ZORI – OZ (Australian) reversed (picked up) R (right) I (one)
25 Source of wood used in combustion (4)
OMBU – hidden in (used in) ‘cOMBUstion’
26 I run up for vitamin source (4)
GOJI – I JOG (I run) reversed (up)
With all due respect to the Evil One, I humbly second Gaufrid’s motion.