No 11950, Thursday 09 Mar 2017, Vulcan

ACROSS
1   Trying hard to feature in a movie (3,5) THE STING {T{H}E STING}
5   Boat prepared to move inside capital city (6) BOGOTA {TO}* in {BOAT}* (Correction - {GO} in {BOAT|* - See comments)
10 First to understand Vulcan's hint — initially spontaneous (9) IMPROMPTU {I'M}{PROMPT}{Un...d}
11 John's said to be free (5) LOOSE (~loo's)
12 Believe town's mostly supporting the communist (6) CREDIT {C{RED}ITy}
13 Family primarily giving millions to take control of party and state (7) KINGDOM {KIN}{Gi...g}{DO}{M}
14 Failing appetite (8) WEAKNESS [DD]
15 Start off facing a particular direction behind a ship (6) ASTERN eASTERN
18 Meat sent back, little disheartened; it's poor (6) FEEBLE {BEEF<=}{Li..lE}
20 Sweet dish finally shifted to second course (8) SYLLABUS SYLLABU(-b+s)S
22 Plant that animal goes about eating or so it's said (7) REPUTED {PUT} in {DEER<=}
25 Just outside, people evacuated publicly (6) OPENLY {O{Pe..lE}NLY}
27 Backpacker from Kochi, Kerala (5) HIKER [T]
28 Metal that's bright, not so round, found in America (9) ALUMINIUM {LUMINoUs} in {AM} How do we  get an I? Anno not clear
29 Settle comfortably in finest leather (6) NESTLE [T]
30 10 supporting new hotel event for charity (8) TELETHON {TE{HOTEL*}N}

DOWN
1   End in trouble after tackle (4) TAIL {T}{AIL}
2   Old prude basically, extremely arrogant, overwhelmed by compulsion to censor (9) EXPURGATE {EX}{Pr..e}{URG{Ar...nT}E}
3   Walked with Rodney and daughter, got into a trap while returning (7) TRODDEN {T{ROD}{D}EN<=}
4   Points me out for showing favouritism (8) NEPOTISM*
6   Inappropriate logos on China teas (7) OOLONGS*
7   Poet eats nothing with egg and all (5) OVOID {OV{O}ID}
8   Positive statements from servant, damaging, about setter (9) AVERMENTS {AVER{ME}NTS*}
9   Kind of music that's lovely, ultimate in rock (4) FUNK {FUN}{rocK}
14 Finer? What could be it? (5-4) WAFER-THIN* Semi&lit
16 Colour of mesh, one used to cover musical instrument (9) EMBELLISH {MESH+1}* over {BELL}
17 Cyrus, one made to be the centre of attention (8) CYNOSURE*
19 Taller actor's starting to move sideways (7) LATERAL {TALLER+Ac..r}*
21 Turn correct swimmer makes, movement in water (3,4) LEE TIDE {EDIT} {EEL}<=
23 Marine creatures, sharp ones first off (5) PIKES sPIKES

24 Expensive sweet (4) DEAR [DD]
26 Threat coming in from England (4) OMEN [T]

GRID