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I thought this was a really strong puzzle, thanks to the (recently identified) Everyman. But significantly more difficult than usual.

Took quite a while to get going, feared a DNF or even a shutout for some time.

FOI 10. LOI 5, due to initially getting 16 reversed.
Co-COD 6 and 1d (short but good). Also liked 17, 14, 8 and 9.

All the usual Everyman boxes seem to be ticked, perhaps with a slight wrinkle in the eponymous category (so to speak).

Easiest for a while, I thought. More anagrams than expected.

Thanks, geeker. I made exactly the same mistake as you. I thought overall just slightly more difficult than average. I did have to jump around quite a bit in the early going to get my grid started.

Enjoyable,but a tad on the easy side and over too quickly.

Bit mystified by 19D, which I can only presume is a simple double definition ... aside from the fact that none of my dictionaries (inc. Chambers) offers the definition 'free of contamination'. What am I missing?

Drinks?

…..Replying to Phil10000

Ahhh ... thanks Nicola!

After my allocated hour was up, gaps all over.
I had the wrong first letter for 16a. Do you need 5d to confirm or could it be either from the clue?
Now that I have the answers via solver, I still cannot fathom
2d No idea what tactical has got to do with it
3d No idea
13d Where does the copper come in?

Much harder than yesterdays FT .

Hi Loubyloo,
16a I think “having yen” makes it clear that the yen part is in the answer, but I agree 5d helps to confirm
2d ‘tactical unit’ is the Chambers definition of the homophone of the answer
3d is a cryptic definition (think biblical)
13d copper is the first letter, then it’s 2 letters inside a 7 letter word for directions
Hope that helps.