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Dhope,
Consider where the single letter abbreviation for name appears in the word “men”.

Of course very clever, thank you Jono .

Thanks, Dhope: parsing of 20a was baffling me too! Very clever clue, perhaps COD.

FOI was unfotunatelt a wrong answer to 2d: I carelessly invented and verified a word which wasn't quite an anagram, but realised it had to be wrong when I solved 7 and 9 but they didn't fit!

Used a few nudges from you kind people to get near to completion.

Still stuck on NE corner: not sure of my 8, and nothing for 5, 6, 10. Hints, please?

My husband solved 5 for me, which doesn't disagree with my 8. With so many puzzles around, I missed that this one was an anagrind!

Still stuck on 6 and 10 and not sure of 8.

6 done: Googling "fastenere" and the likely 3-letter word solved it. I'd been thinking on the right lines, playing with "batty", "barmy" etc but forgot this one. It confirms 8 which just seemed a bit too straightforward to be likely.

So that just leaves 10, with two common crossers which don't help.

LOI will be 10!

And then I looked again at q0, thought a bit more about "female", and had a PDM.

LOI: 10.

Enjoyed this clever themed puzzle after a slow and incorrect start, but was surprised not to find a jigsaw among the answers!

Sorry about the multiple postings.

Agree COD now 20a . Sorry too late to give you any nudges !

Thanks to Paul for the literal puzzle of puzzles. Also thanks to all of the regulars at the Guardian Prize thread; as soon as I finish (long after you!) next thing is to come here and enjoy the commentary.

Jones, I am also struggling with SW corner, any hints for 14, 16 and 24

Ta very much

14 is a homophone of a 6-letter adjective meaning something which has a fault. 16 is contained within the clue. 24 is not really defined by "dandy" but is derived from what a "dandy" might do.