A tough grid fill, followed by one of the most straightforward endgames that I can remember. I can't help thinking that there must be a subtle thematic significance to the unusual nature of the down entries which has escaped me. I did get rather lost matching up the bits and pieces with their entries and cheated a bit by working backwards from possible answers to the longer down answers. The final revelation was a nice surprise and justified all the fiddly stuff that went before.
Sad news - as some of you may already know, John Harrington (Schadenfreude) died recently. His superb puzzles will be much missed, and my condolences to his family and friends.