Pavlova (Solution No. 3,279)

Bangle likes meringues (see 2d), so for Easter dessert last year she made a Pavlova, the national dessert of New Zealand and Australia.  It’s a soft meringue shell filled with vanilla ice cream and kiwifruit and other fresh berries.

Solution and annotation for Puzzle No. 3,279 below the fold. 

Legend: "*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed; "( )" letters inserted; "_" or lower case: letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue, “^” first letter or letters, “{“ relocated letter or letters, "§" heteronym (relocating a space between the letters), "¶" letter bank

Across

1a	OBJECT	Double definition
5a	ROCK BAND	Double definition
9a	*COURTE | SANS	*CUTE OR (anagram indicated by “exotic”) + SANS (“without”)
10a	~ROUX	~RUE (“herb”, homonym indicated by “speaking of”) Had to guess there was an herb named rue  http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/rue.php
11a	*DEMAND	*DAMNED (anagram indicated by “change”)
12a	§START OUT	§STAR TOUT (“celebrity promoter”)
13a	BACK_LASH	BACK_s_LASH (visually represented as “\”, omission of middle letter indicated by “heartless”)
15a	ENDEAR	END (“terminate”) + EAR (“discrimation”)
17a	A | GATES	A (†) + GATES (“billionaire”)
19a	REST | RAIN	REST (“lie down”) + RAIN (“drop”)
21a	PI | S | SARO	PI (“an irrational” [number]) + ^S^kin (first letter indicated by “head” [not quite by the rules])
23a	TAIL | OR	TAIL (“shadow”) + OR (†)
24a	THOU	Double definition
25a	NEAP | *OLITAN	*LATINO (anagram indicated by “at sea”) following (†) NEAP (“tide”)
26a	CRE_ + SCENT	CRE_w_ (omission of last letter indicated by “most of”) + SCENT “smell”) By tradition, a crescent-shaped ventilation hole is cut in the top of the door to an outhouse.
27a	HUG | EST	HUG (“embrace”) + EST (“a cult”) (anagram indicated by “”)

Down

2d	BOO | ~MERANG	BOO “to express disapproval” + ~MERINGUE (“dessert,” homophone indicated by “aloud”)
3d	E | (ARM)  ARK	ARM (“limb”) contained in (“between”) ^E^lbow (first letter indicated by “tip of”) and ARK (“chest”)
4d	T | WEED	^T^oxic (first letter indicated by “piece of”) + WEED (“unwanted plant”)
5d	*READS THE | RIO | T ACT	*E-THREADS (anagram indicated by “distributing”) + §RIO TACT (heteronym: “Brazilian diplomacy”)
6d	CASTANET | S	CAST A NET (“lay a trap”) + S (“small”)
7d	B(E)RAT | E_D	BRAT (“naughty child”) containing (“about”) E (“error”) + E_nglan_D (first and last letters indicated by “outside of”)
8d	_NA URU_	argenti_NA URU_guay (hidden word indicated by “on the … border”)
14d	*ASSURANCE	*RUSE SCAN A (anagram indicated by “suspicious”)
16d	*ARIZONANS	*NAZIS OR AN (anagram indicated by “evil”)
18d	T | ISSUE | S	T (“time”) + ISSUE (“release”) + ^S^udafed (first letter indicated by “just a bit”)
20d	RAISIN | G	RAISIN (“dried fruit”) + ^G^ranola (first letter indicated by “top of”)
22d	_ICHOR_	archa_IC HOR_mone (hidden word indicated by “containing”)
23d	TROT | H	TROT (“run”) + ^H^igh (first letter indicated by “the lead”)