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 TROYS 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.