Possible Clues:

• A retiring pale might have been in the fire
• That's a retiring class of a pale
• Colorless of cheek
• Not at all ruddy
• That's not beyond the pale - like the start of 22 across
• Dusty having a fling
• Gray of face
• Like the area around an erupting volcano
• A retiring sort of pale?
• Like no ruddy appearance from a cast