5ac: Ridiculous tale about antique that could collapse (7)
34ac: Old instrument's cover reduced sound of harmony (8)
36ac: Have fresh ideas about poor folk's termination (6)
I made a start on this puzzle and guess all down clues are normal, but across clues need the last letter removed before entry, but haven't a clue who 5dn and corresponding clues are about, I'd like to work that out myself but need some help here.
18d is symphony, hopefully that and the manner the across clues are entered should give you a good clue. I'm stuck on the top LHS, but will keep plodding on and will follow this thread.
I too had to think hard about top left hand corner. Nevertheless an enjoyable crossword with final unclued entries fitting in nicely with symphony and the style of entering the across clues. Bradford proved to be very useful.