This was a little unusual for a Beelzebub in that I only needed to read a handful of clues more than once. Instead of my usual initial pass through all the clues, having got 1ac immediately I then had a look at the down clues and the first six went in without further ado.
I then progressively worked out from the NW corner, selecting between across and down depending on which had the most, or most useful, checked letters. The clueing was so clear and accurate that I was able to confidently enter words that I had not met before. It was only after I had a completed grid that I used Chambers to confirm some unfamiliar entries or parts of the wordplay.
Across
1 Seek to ban cracked oven plate (9)
BAKESTONE – an anagram (cracked) of SEEK TO BAN
11 Worried about scheme beginning to obstruct activity in germ cell (12)
APLANOGAMETE – ATE (worried) around (about) PLAN (scheme) O[bstruct] (beginning to obstruct) GAME (activity)
13 Start to suppress resistance by ordinary set of genes (6)
OPERON – OPEN (start) around (to suppress) R (resistance) O (ordinary)
14 Annuls agreements with Republican instead of Democrat (7)
REPEALS – dEALS (agreements) with REP (Republican) replacing (instead of) D (Democrat)
15 Nurse in drama helping (4)
AMAH – hidden in (in) ‘drAMA Helping’
16 Make worse mistake finally with Scottish sweetheart, stopping talk (8)
PEJORATE – [mistak]E (mistake finally) JO (Scottish sweetheart) in (stopping) PRATE (talk)
18 User of artificial language I would tackle? Not hard (6)
IDOIST – I’D (I would) [h]OIST (tackle not hard)
19 Chinese for instance back in league (5)
HANSA – HAN (Chinese) AS (for instance) reversed (back)
21 Sensational leg ends in surprise victory (5)
GAMEY – GAM (leg) [surpris]E [victor]Y (ends in surprise victory)
23 Disguised contestant’s one of highest excellence (6)
RINGER – double def.
25 E.g. bowlers, eager, had to play (8)
HEADGEAR – an anagram (to play) of EAGER HAD
28 Hundred thousand hit hard (4)
TONK – TON (hundred) K (thousand)
29 Fear din, nervously delicate (7)
FRIANDE – an anagram (nervously) of FEAR DIN
30 Notice, full of insolence, England’s opening bat? (6)
ALIPED – AD (notice) around (full of) LIP (insolence) E[ngland] (England’s opening)
31 Soldier acting upset about job getting rid of a pothole (6-6)
GIANT’S-KETTLE – GI (soldier) A (acting) NETTLE (upset) around (about) T[a]SK (job getting rid of a)
32 Arab in club, aged, breaking bread (9)
NABATAEAN – BAT (club) AE (aged) in (breaking) NAAN (bread)
Down
2 Add settlement up and write date (6)
APPEND – PA (settlement) reversed (up) PEN (write) D (date)
3 Compulsive thief can make pilot worried (12)
KLEPTOMANIAC – an anagram (worried) of CAN MAKE PILOT
4 Raised cheers, entertained by weird restaurant (7)
EATERIE – TA (cheers) reversed (raised) in (entertained by) EERIE (weird)
5 Check sun and tide (5)
SNEAP – S (sun) NEAP (tide)
6 Burden including jacket wanting good washing (8)
TOILETTE – TOTE (burden) around (including) [g]ILET (jacket wanting good)
7 Sleep, love, and love no more (5)
NAPOO – NAP (sleep) O (love) O (love)
8 Ship with rising trouble in control abandoned by old salt (12)
PERMANGANATE – MAN (ship) NAG (trouble) reversed (rising) in [o]PERATE (control abandoned by old)
9 Carnivores exactly in middle of tussle (6)
STOATS – TO A T (exactly) in [tu]SS[le] (middle of tussle)
10 Caution inhibiting new judge, tense and timid (3-7)
HEN-HEARTED – HEED (caution) around (inhibiting) N (new) HEAR (judge) T (tense)
12 Crew in loud storm transported goods (10)
FREIGHTAGE – EIGHT (crew) in F (loud) RAGE (storm)
17 Clash over drink with absolute snake (8)
JARARAKA – JAR (clash) ARAK (drink) A (absolute)
20 Anecdotes padded with endless ingenious colouring (7)
ANNATTA – ANA (anecdotes) around (padded with) NATT[y] (endless ingenious)
22 Account containing eastern miscellany mostly in dialect (6)
AEOLIC – AC (account) around (containing) E (eastern) OLI[o] (miscellany mostly)
24 Apparitions in estate that is taken over (6)
EIDOLA – ALOD (estate) IE (that is) reversed (taken over)
26 Woman’s name right inside sandal (5)
GRETA – R (right) in (inside) GETA (sandal)
27 Fix split on time (5)
RIVET – RIVE (split) T (time)
I recall getting 1ac fairly quickly as well, and I think the left hand side went in quickly but the right took longer.
In the end there were several I couldn’t parse: 20dn, 31ac and 32ac. I knew ANA in 20dn, I could see GI in 31ac and in 32ac I could see NAAN and BAT but didn’t know the abbreviation AE.
For some reason, 9dn made me laugh.
Well I failed on 24 down. Not knowing (and unable to guess) alod. Due deference to Beelzebub and a tip of the hat to Gaufrid for getting it all.
Curiously, I had come across alod before. A customer at work was using ALOD as an abbreviation for something and I stumbled across the word in Chambers. Told the customer what it actually meant.