This was the first Saturday Indy that I have attempted and so I cannot say how it compares with the usual fare. I found most of it easy, with nearly 90% of the answers going in within a few minutes. The remaining 10% or so took about the same amount of time again.
I have a concern about the definition in 24d in that I don’t think ‘mass’ equates to ‘size’ but, that said, the rest of the clues were fair (provided, like me, you were around in the ’60s).
Across
1 STIMULUS MUL[l] (consider) in SUITS (27’s) reversed
6 JACK dd
11 PUPIL dd
12 TARANTINO *(INTO A RANT) – Quentin Tarantino, director of Reservoir Dogs etc
13 TORVILL AND DEAN VILLA (football team) in TORN (divided) *(DANED) – the ice dance champions best remembered for their performance set to Ravel’s Bolero
14 IN ARREARS RANI (Indian ruler) reversed REARS (rises)
17 E-FITS STIF[l]E (gag) reversed
19 SUMAC SUM (amount of money) AC (account) – any tree or shrub of the genus Rhus
20 KATHMANDU K (king) M (married) in AT HAND (nearby) U (university) – capital of Nepal
21 PRESUPPOSITION *(I NIP OUT OPPRESS)
25 IMBROGLIO *(GIMLI BORO[mir]) – a lovely word, usually only encountered in crosswords
26 LEAVE AV (Authorised Version, bible) in LEE (shelter)
27 EXEC X (vote) in E (European) EC (financial district)
28 TEETOTAL TOTE (burden) reversed in TEAL (duck)
Down
2 TOPER TOP (get better ratings) ER (series starring Clooney)
3 MULTIPROCESSOR *(IS COMPUTERS ROL[e])
4 LITTLE AUK TT (28) L’EAU (water, in French) in LIK[e] (almost similar)
5 SIREN SIRE (king) N (knight)
7 AGITATION I (the writer) TATI (French comic) in AGON (Greek competitive festival) – Jacques Tati, a noted French comedic filmmaker
8 KNOW N[oodles] in WOK (stir-fry pan) reversed
9 UPSTAIRS *(PUTS) AIRS (pretentiousness)
10 ANY DREAM WILL DO *(I AM ANDREW LLOYD) &lit
15 ADMIRABLE hidden reversal in ‘steEL BAR IM DAngerously’ – ‘wicked’ being used with its slang definition
16 SOTTO VOCE SOT (2) TO (addressing) V (very) O (old) CE (Anglicans)
18 SQUANDER QUAN[t] (mini designer nearly) in REDS (radicals) reversed – Mary Quant, the fashion designer who introduced the miniskirt back in the ’60s. The other famous ‘Mini’ designer of that era was Alec (Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine) Issigonis but he wouldn’t fit in the grid!
22 PILOT I (one) in PLOT (what a person at sea’s lost)
23 IVANA I (current) VAN (advantage) A (ace) – Donald Trump’s ex-wife and a former Olympic athlete and fashion model
24 SIZE homophone of ‘sighs’
Excellent puzzle – a little easier than usual from Nestor and for a Saturday, I found. And, while, like the blogger, I was around in the 1960s, not sure if the same can be said for the setter (except technically) as he was 9 years old when the decade ended… (Info from Azed book).
Maybe a little easier than usual, but I won’t let that detract from my satisfaction in having been named one of the five winners this week 🙂