At least in fsl_spi.c in in SDK 2.5.0 for LPC845 you can see:
/* Note that: the MSTIDLE status is related to the EOT bit, if the EOT is not set, the MSTIDLE bit will never be set even though there is no data in the FIFO and no data will be shifted by the bus line. so, please don't check the MSTIDLE status if the EOT bit is not set.*/
This relationship is not reflected in the UM.
And how can I check the idle state of the peripheral when I control SSEL manually with a GPIO pin? TXRDY isn''t suitable for that.
By the way:


The first screenshot says that 'SSEL0 asserted' is the reset/default value because the reset value of the bit is 0.
'Asserted' here means 'active' as well?