Independent 6419 by Hypnos

A, pleasant, excellently crafted, puzzle a little on the easy side of average for me.

Solving time: 14 mins

* =anagram

ACROSS

5 MAGICIAN    GI in maniac*    Joe is US usage for a soldier i.e. GI

9 PETIT(e) I(r)ON    Nancy being a French city – you often see Nice used in clues for that also.

11 BEEF  BURGER  Re grub  reversed     Very good and amusing.

12 O B O Examine      O O stands for the specs

16 CADDIE  (addic)* collapsE

17 A N GO (L) A    A little surprised to see Goa defined as tourist destination but it must be.

19 SAN (CT) ITY

21 DALI   My last one – always nervous with 4-letter answers, where both crossing letters are vowels.   But, it came quickly enough in the end Il(i)ad reversed.

27 ETHER E (A) L     Number = ether i.e. something that numbs  el = the in Spanish a = area

DOWN

3 GRIEF   (figure)* less u

4 T (RIB) UNE   Excellent play with the meaning of words here, which reminded me of Mass puzzles.

5 M AN AGE R   The outskirts are the first and last letters.

7 CO NCORDAT    (Car don’t)*    An excellent, and amusing, surface reading.

8 A POLO GIST

14 HANG A(r)BOUT

15 ABOMINATE  “A bomb in eight”!     100/8 = 12.5

23 NO TED (Heath)