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It is, of course, subjective, but several people here and on other platforms say that the Everyman and Quiptic are becoming harder.

I enjoy these harder puzzles but my fear is that without a "normal" Everyman and Quiptic and Vulcan's Monday puzzle we lose an entry route for beginners wanting to enter the world of cryptics.

Interesting today I thought. Not keen on 3D but 7D and 16A both raised a smile. 14D isn’t a term I’ve heard often….hey ho

Thanks Swarbrules. I've put in an answer. Still no idea what 'habits' is doing in the clue, though.
As for 16a ... It strikes me as one of those clues that the setter dreams up and then congratulates himself without ever thinking how utterly impossible it is to work out on its own merits (i.e. without crossers ... and, in my case, some help with parsing from this forum).
Everymans have become wildly inconsistent of late, varying from the likes of this (as tough as a Paul Prize imo) one week to virtual write-ins the next. As you suggest, he's not really fulfilling the brief.

I didn't find this particularly difficult, but I can't see the wordplay for the second word in 1a (the first word and the definition are fine).

Have to agree with ChrisE - really can’t see what 1d is getting at

Phil10000, habits in the sense of clothes...?

Or rather can’t see the wordplay in 1d. Second word in 1a comes from describing different types on employment as a group.

I seem to remember that a few months ago when people were saying that Everyman was getting harder, the response from the Crossword Editor was that it was a case of mass hysteria :-).

If that was indeed the case, I am suffering from it again (although I enjoyed this one much better than yesterday's prize, with which I am struggling). I think 16a is brilliant, but surely way beyond what should be in an Everyman?

As a [re]beginner I'd say, Swarbrules, it doesn't matter if the Quiptic is getting harder as we can always get help by plugging in vowels and checking the answer.

But there are occasions when I've abandoned the Everyman

[Swarbrules
We saw Fairport Convention (again!) on Wednesday and drank a memorial toast to Swarb. Any connection?]