Observed detective, not disguised, according to report (9)
I believe the answer is:
eyeballed
'observed' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with perception as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'detective not disguised according to report' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'detective' could be 'eye' (as in a private eye) and 'eye' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'balled' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for eyeballed that I've seen before include "Stared at" , "looked at" , "Watched" , "confronted" .)