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Hi Pippa, it was definitely a harder puzzle today. 25a is a contranym (a word that can mean the opposite of itself). Both meanings are verbs.
26a is asking you to associate “pop” with a familiar expression

22d - "cast off" as old clothes might be and 2 letter "folksy Everyman" and 2 letter usual "editor"

Thanks Brendan and Jono. Finally got there!

I enjoyed this but agree that it was somewhat harder than usual. Also, where was the rhyming pair?! This grid usually has one doesn't it?

Would not have got 17a without help from this forum, but agree it was a very clever clue (and I don't think I've come across one like this before) I also agree that 26a was a bit dubious. I enjoyed 9a and the two long hiddens - very gratifying when I got those!

jules, Everyman doesn't always have a rhyming pair. Sometimes he goes for alliteration instead. I mentioned @1 that this seems to be an alliteration week, viz. two of the relatively long (10-letter) across clues.

Another option to rhyming pair is "opposites" or two long clues that have contrary meanings. I think that's occurred fairly recently but am too lazy to research the matter. ;-)

oops...one of the alliterative pairs has 10 letters and the other 12.

Rhyming pairs, antonym suffixes and alliterations are normally (perhaps I’d go as far as saying, always) positioned in symmetrical grid positions, so that it is clear that they are deliberate. This doesn’t appear to be the case today. Hmm.

Dare I suggest a new Everyman device has emerged … the common letters in the four corners?

This may be nonsense but the coming weeks will tell… ;-)

Hi Jono, never seen 26a before. Is it just me?

It is a modifying word that undermines or contradicts the meaning of the word, phrase, or clause it accompanies, such as "genuine replica." Also known as a w*****ism

More broadly, it may refer to any word that's used with the intention to mislead or misinform.

The term was coined by author Stewart Chaplin in 1900 and popularized by Theodore Roosevelt in a speech in 1916.

After the discussion of 19a, you all may find today’s Guardian cryptic of interest.