Well done you two. I'm inclined to agree on clue analysis: these are tricky, for the most part, even when you've understood how the affected clues work. Getting the Shakespeare helps a bit: once you know the quotation, you at least know what the remaining missing letters are.
I've seen better ways of putting the first sentence of the rubric, which could suggest the grid entries have a letter missing too.
I would be interested to know if the latest Chambers has 28d. CD 2003 does not. It slowed me down a lot, not least because I thought I'd eliminated all the A's but one, and put that in the first square of 28: there's a lot of weird words out there when you start looking on that basis! In a tribute to double acts on this board, it was my other half who came up with the right answer.
A fine crossword with a wide range and a satisfying conclusion, respect to Auctor.