Tim Moorey tends to scatter some pop culture and sports references through his puzzles and this one has double cricket and double football (maybe a hat tip to the World Cup of cricket and the Champions League final, the latter of which ended a few minutes before I started writing this). I did not know one of the football references and had to use it to check my answer.
Since I jumped on those references, I flew through this one, so a good Mephisto for those new to the series. Speaking of new to the series, all definitions can be verified in Chambers, so I will focus on wordplay here, and only mention the underlined definitions if I think something may need clearing up.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Middle-Easterner said to be in a pub, wet (8) |
| BAHRAINI – sounds like BAR(pub), RAINY(wet) | |
| 7 | Since no longer used, import not concluded (4) |
| SENS – SENSE(import, importance) missing the last letter | |
| 10 | No Parking in rise is a policy reversal (5) |
| U-TURN – remove P(parking) from UPTURN(rise) | |
| 11 | Pen myth about sexy girl (7) |
| NYMPHET – anagram of PEN,MYTH | |
| 13 | Row with footballer perhaps left out — he must settle tax bills (9) |
| RATEPAYER – RATE(row, chide, scold), PLAYER(footballer) missing L(left) | |
| 14 | Clubs to break old rule for French writer (6) |
| RACINE – C(clubs) inside RAINE(old spelling of REIGN, rule) | |
| 16 | Person at square one not half taken aback by protuberances (4) |
| INIA – clever clue – since 1 across is BAHRAINI, then INIA is hidden in it reversed | |
| 17 | Network screens so much of a strip (6) |
| LATHEN – LAN(computer network) containing THE(so much) | |
| 18 | England opener’s smashing cricket shot (11) |
| TRESCOTHICK – anagram of CRICKET,SHOT for former English Test opener, Marcus | |
| 20 | One’s absorbed by soft and hard hats for cricketers (11) |
| PACEBOWLERS – ACE(one) inside P(soft) and BOWLERS(hard hats) | |
| 23 | Free party in smallest room gets squid (6) |
| LOLIGO – LIG(freeloader at catering) inside LOO(smallest room) | |
| 25 | Not entirely cool person in jug (4) |
| OLPE – hidden inside coOL PErson | |
| 27 | Dress nattier with no end of satin? (6) |
| ATTIRE – anagram of NATTIER missing the last letter of satiN – dress doing a little double duty here, which is why the question mark | |
| 29 | Erratic alto surprisingly outside on pedestals (9) |
| ACROTERIA – anagram of ERRATIC,A(alto) surrounding O(on) | |
| 30 | Lord’s back, fat and stupid (7) |
| DULLARD – LUD(lord) reversed then LARD(fat) | |
| 31 | Hard work as before, Harry of Spurs and England’s special up front (5) |
| SWINK – the footballer who plays for Tottenham and England is Harry WINKS – move the S(special) to the front | |
| 32 | Hospital supplies coming from Sweden are defective (4) |
| SERA – S(Sweden) then an anagram of ARE | |
| 33 | Head admits good attack upset reserves (8) |
| NEST EGGS – this is only given as two words in Chambers. NESS(head) containing G(good), GET(attack) reversed | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Rough sound made by donkey on losing tail? (4) |
| BURR – BURRO(donkey) missing the last letter | |
| 2 | A time for Pastor in sole US city (7) |
| ATLANTA – A then T(time) replacing P(pastor) in PLANTA(sole) | |
| 3 | Injured right away getting round pit lined with stones (9) |
| HUT-CIRCLE – HURT(injured) missing the R(right) then CIRCLE(round) | |
| 4 | Fruit and nuts not started (6) |
| ANANAS – BANANAS(nuts) missing the first letter | |
| 5 | Bury more acceptable for a heat exchanger (11) |
| INTERCOOLER – INTER(bury), COOLER(more acceptable) | |
| 6 | Warriors involved in counter-claim pilloried (4) |
| IMPI – hidden inside counter-claIM PIlloried | |
| 7 | Old battle-axe in dispute beginning to trouble husband (6) |
| SPARTH – SPAR(dispute), then the first letter in Trouble, H(husband) | |
| 8 | Boy reportedly discarded sharp instrument (5) |
| NEELE – sounds like NEIL(boy) | |
| 9 | Dot in Perth has ring about right (8) |
| STRINKLE – ‘S, then TINKLE(ring) surrounding R(right) | |
| 12 | Chicken and duck from France (not North America) getting official cautions (11, two words) |
| YELLOW CARDS – YELLOW(chicken, coward) then CANARDS(duck) missing NA(North America) | |
| 15 | Beetle in brief trip ahead of international sport (9) |
| WHIRLIGIG – WHIRL(brief trip), then I(international) GIG(sport, fun) | |
| 16 | Emperor comes first and sues (8) |
| IMPLEADS – IMP(imperator, eperor) then LEADS(comes first) | |
| 19 | Century knock grips new Surrey supporter? (7) |
| CSPRING – C(100, Century), then SPRIG(knock, nail) surrounding N(new) | |
| 21 | With love for bit of sketching, ladies coloured images (6) |
| EIDOLA – insert O and remove S(ketching) iin LADIES and then anagram | |
| 22 | Do filling roll for a string player (6) |
| LUTIST – UT(do in music) inside LIST(roll) | |
| 24 | In the past guards united at the right time (5, two words) |
| ON CUE – ONCE(in the past) surrounding U(united) | |
| 26 | Mark gives up independence for another guy (4) |
| STAN – STAIN(mark) missing I(independence) | |
| 28 | County leaving out second-class chaps in forces (4) |
| ERKS – BERKS county missing B(second-class) | |
Thanks George – I didn’t manage to parse ACROTERIA or ATLANTA. Otherwise this was quite a straightforward Mephisto.