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Thanks to Everyman for a fun but slightly unusual puzzle this week.
I found it more difficult than the norm and struggled with the SW quadrant.
FOI 3, LOI 7.
COD tie between 1a and 19. Runners-up 9 and 15.
The trademark "first letters" clue has a wrinkle. There is a Spoonerism which I found a bit obscure, and an "Everyman" clue.
I didn't see a rhyming pair, though there is a pair of appropriately located "eye rhyming" solutions.

Hi Geeker,

Agree that this is significantly more difficult than your average Everyman, if there is such a thing!

I see what you mean about the initials clue, very odd.

I've yet to locate the eye-rhyming pair you refer to but that's no great shock.

COD is 8d but I also liked the Spoonerism.

Thanks to Everyman.

I found it difficult too. There seems only one answer to 21a but I can't parse it at all! Can anyone help please?

21 is a subtractive anagram of three words in the clue minus the letters from a fourth

That's pretty tricky! I see it now, thank you Jono.

Strongly suspect the regular Everyman is off on their hols this week! Far more lateral thinking needed than is usually the case, and as for 16D ... thank God for the crossers, otherwise I wouldn't have got it in several months of Sundays. Spoonerisms are tricky enough as it is without throwing specialist knowledge into the mix.
I imagine it'll be a busy forum this week!

Rather good I thought. FOI 7d which opened things up. 20d made an appearance in a cryptic during the week so was fresh in the mind. Re the Spoonerism, I’m not sure if the ‘perhaps’ is there to indicate piano as an example, or that those notes relate only to the major scale (or both).

I see what Geeker meant about the two words with similar endings but which don’t actually rhyme when spoken. Not sure what’s odd in the primarily clue though?

Gold star to anyone who remembers where they saw that exact same Spoonerism a couple of months ago 😉

This was trickier than the usual Everyman

Jono's explanation of how 21a parses will help maybe after I've had another coffee. I have the only farm animal that fits the grid.

If you are not fond of Spoonerisms, just ignore it and enter what a "piano, perhaps" is (the scale actually has 5 sharps! )

Fairly raced through this leaving six to go -14a,21a,27a , 13d, 18d and 22d. After another 30 mins didn't get any of them and looked up answers .
I don't think I would ever have got 22d. Never heard of 27a .
While I got the 16d Spooner clue, I have absolutely no idea how it works (but I hardly ever do).