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17a ‘so to speak’ indicates a figurative rather than literal meaning to the second part (Chambers supports this)

12d I thought this was a reference to a nursery rhyme (or is it a song?)

21d first two letters are reversed, then one letter ‘about’, and one letter ‘front of stage’

Ah, sorry Stargull, I should have refreshed before posting. I was actually trying to find the song lyrics, which you confirmed is a song not a nursery rhyme

loubyloo10 Check a song by Vernon Dahlhart for an explanation on the runaway train.

12d brought back memories of Michael Holliday (he had a charming voice, somewhat similar to Bing Crosby ) died 1963 . His record was a hit in the late 50's

It’s in a child’s song about a runaway train.

I found it on YouTube. That’s going to be in my head for the rest of the day now! 😂

Mattron & Jono 17a Now it makes sense. I did not not the Laws had been changed. A gender neutral title for The Observer cryptic, now (8)

Even though the use of man to mean person predates the use of the word as a male, we have to move with the times

Human will become Humperson, mankind becomes personkind, and midwife becomes MidLifePartner

I completed my first ever Everyman one Sunday at the Victoria in Paddington whilst a PhD student in the late '60s. So I am a traditionalist, using only a dictionary (now Chambers of course) and a thesaurus. So, while no technophobe, I still get queasy when tempted to use electronic aids This blog is a valuable half-way house! Thanks!

Today's Everyman is everything Brendan describes. FOI 1d, LOIs 9a and 13d with its splendid one word anagram. Several candidates for COD, 5d by a short head.

Everyman is part of my continuing education.

I liked 24a it made laugh

My LOI was 13d, I have an answer, but assuming it's correct I can't work out the parsing of the first 3 letters