This was mostly straightforward, but there were some creative elements here, noted below.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | REPORT REP (salesman) OR T (“agent”‘s conclusion) |
| 4 | SCREWS UP CREW (ship’s company) in PUSS (cat) reversed |
| 10 | LIGHT BEER LIGHT (fair) BEE (worker) R (“tucker” at the back) |
| 11 | EQUAL *(TEQUILA minus IT) |
| 12 | PROTEIN homophone of PRO TEEN (for adolescent) |
| 13 | ENTREAT hidden in cENTRE ATtentively |
| 14 | EASED *(A SEED) I was at first unsure about the use of “genetically modified” (instead of just “modified”) as the anagram indicator. However, a gene is a sequence of “letters” (the molecules ACTH, if I recall correctly), so “genetically modified” could indeed mean that the letters are rearranged. And, of course, it makes for a much better surface! |
| 15 | ENTIRETY RE (on) in ENTITY (thing) |
| 18 | DRAMATIC I (one) in *(ATM CARD) I = one ends up getting used three times in this puzzle, which I think is too much. |
| 20 | POSER dd |
| 23 | ROSELLA ROSE (went up) + ALL (totally) reversed |
| 25 | OPENERS E (England) in *(PERSON) |
| 26 | POLIO I (one) in POLO (sport) |
| 27 | MENTIONED IT reversed + ONE in MEND (patch) |
| 28 | DRESSING DR (doctor) + *(SINGES) |
| 29 | CHAMPS H (hard) in CAMPS (military bases) |
| Down | |
| 1 | RELAPSED LAPS (circuits) in REED (rush) |
| 2 | PIGEONS EON (a long time) in PIGS (greedy eaters) |
| 3 | ROTTERDAM ROTTER (person who’s corupt) + MAD (angry) reversed |
| 5 | CURRENT ACCOUNT CUR (mongrel) RENT (let) + CA reversed (“up about”)+ COUNT (noble) |
| 6 | EVENT hidden in sEVEN Taped. I like the hidden indicator (“Five of …”), and how it blends with the fodder that also includes a number |
| 7 | STUDENT odd letters of DiEd in STUNT (daredevil act) |
| 8 | PILOTS I (one) in PLOTS (areas of land) |
| 9 | NEANDERTHAL MAN [o]NE (one losing head) + *(AT ARNHEM LAND) |
| 16 | REPLENISH SIN (offence) in HELPER, all reversed |
| 17 | PRESIDES IDE[a] in PRESS (iron) |
| 19 | RESOLVE *(LOVERS) + E (energy) “Lacking cohesion” is a great anagram indicator, new to me. |
| 21 | STERNUM STERN (back) UM (middle part of “hump”) |
| 22 | GRIPED PE[ople] in GRID (network) |
| 24 | LIONS N (nitrogen) in *(SOIL) |
I thought 5d was masterful, on par with Cinephile’s best.