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This one's fast and furious. Lots of anagrams. FOI 1a followed by several others in NW corner very quickly. Not crazy about clue for 19d. Liked 12a so I guess I'll make that my COD

A close contender for COD might be 4d. Maybe I'm just hungry.

And of course the rhyming couplet is in play.

Thanks to Everyman. I got through this faster than the last couple. Funny how tastes differ, 19d was my COD! :) I thought there were more "hidden" clues than usual. FOI 10, LOI 11.

Hi Geeker. Re. 19d - i just don't understand where the 2nd letter connects with the clue. Other than that...

19d: Doesn't the 2nd letter come from "posh"? I'm American, but that's one of the conventions I had to pick up to survive in British cryptic land.
On second thought, I agree with you that 4 was excellent, but I got it quickly due to memories of having been stumped on that same answer; another one of those things this American had to learn from experience.

Re. 19d The letters either side yes. But I smell a foul vowel. I too am (practically) American having lived here over 40 years, but as far as I know there's only one way to spell this answer. I can't get any closer than to say that I think that what you're suggesting would be very Non-x and therefore very NON posh. How else can we dance around this issue? :-)

Unlike the rest of you, I am not quite there..missing 2d and 9 across. A hint or two would be helpful, please

DS, re 9a. Def. is last 3 words
Abb. for Republican + ' monarchy' (4) + abb for 'hard' in a word for 'crazy' (4)
2d is a word which is pronounced differently for each definition. Hard to give a hint.

After deciphering the long anagrams, I found this Everyman fairly straightforward.

25a is my COD just because I like that it is possible to make the answer word from the other word. 16a is lovely too.

I like this grid style with its long words connecting the quadrants, and 8 four letter words at corners. (Any further insights Jono?)

19d seems unproblematic to me - usual single letters for very and posh at the start.

Hope everyone is doing OK with winter weather and lockdown etc. Crosswords are a such great distraction!