Individuals playing some part on all sides today (7)

I believe the answer is:

persons

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'individuals' is the definition.
('person' can be a synonym of 'individual')

'part on all sides today' is the wordplay.
'part' becomes 'so' (so is a kind of part).
'on' is an insertion indicator.
'all sides today' becomes 'perns' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'so' inserted into 'perns' is 'PERSONS'.

'playing some' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for persons that I've seen before include "People" , "Men and women" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.

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