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This is another of those Everyman's that has quite a different feel to it.

For starters, rather than a rhyming pair there is a rhyming quadruplet.

There's also also a fair bit of unusual vocabulary and some of the words, though obvious anagrams, didn't show up in any anagram solvers.

FOI was 1a and that was followed by 6d.

There were a couple that caused me a bit of head scratching, namely 16d where I didn't know that definition of "catholic" and 2d and 18d which I got from the crossers and definition but am not sure how they are parsed.

Other than the unusual vocab. this isn't too difficult but, if you do get stuck, there are numerous long anagrams to help you out along with some obvious "hiddens".

COD - I've picked the simple but delightful 20d.

Please feel free to leave a comment and/or ask for a hint if you get stuck.

Thanks to Everyman for an enjoyable puzzle to end the year.

Happy New Year.

Stay safe:-)

18d: the first six letters mean dying!
2d: the first and last three letters perhaps mean a sole, I think. The plural version of soles is bit confusing.

Thanks Mathi, I saw the demi in "comedian" and got completely sidetracked.

HI Brendan,
I really enjoyed this, though it wasn't so difficult.
FOI 1a, LOI and co-COD (with 2) 12a. Also liked 9d.
Three of the four long perimeter clues were write-ins, which helped.
Parsing: 2d is (abbrev for opposed) inside (what soles might be), 18d is (syn for dying [noun]) + abbrev. for comedian.
Thanks to Everyman.

I was also sidetracked by the same trap first!

That was enjoyable.

7d is not the spelling I have used, but I see it spelt two ways when Googled. Interesting that the Guardian seems to use the shorter spelling in its news articles, etc.

The only unsolved one left for me is 12a, and I would appreciate a hint.

Thanks

Hi Peter,

12a - It's what people do when they want to let you know they know someone famous.

Ha!

Thanks Brendan

12a: (abbr. for, say, Ulster) + (familiar welcome) + (syn for agenda) + ... (rest is obvious).

Oops, read 14 for 12, I see Brendan replied. That (12) took me ages to figure out.