Some obscurities: like "brow" for "gangway"; and Pom-isms ("Dutch Elm", "pud", "aubergine") -- plus the usual lack of understanding of Australian society and culture. Far too many anagrams and two cryptic defs that are, well, just shite.
EDIT: See 10 across. Seems I was wrong about "pud".
Across
1 & 5. BRANDON WALTERS. Part of the semi-theme this week: the film Australia. Anag of "lends a 23 rat"; so you have to get the five letters of 23 down to complete the anag.
9. LUNATIC. Anag of "in a cult".
10.
[[HOLD THE PRESSES, I'm wrong. My new correspondent, "Prospero", points out that it should probably be PODGIER; the "pod" being a fruit? My apologies.]]
11. DUTCH ELM DISEASE. Only found here where stupid Poms have planted English elms. Anag of "schedules made it".
12. GARNET. The "old English composer" is Thomas ARNE.
14. LUHRMANN. Another part of the theme. There's no way that LUHR is homophonic with "lure", whether you say "loo-er" or "lyoo-er". Dorothy is obviously working from a written text and has never heard anyone actually say Baz's name.
17. MALDIVES. The book is Lamentations, abbreviated and reversed. DIVES was the rich man at whose gate Lazarus lay dying. He is not named in the biblical story (Luke 16:19-31) and so is traditionally given the general Latin name for a rich man, dives.
18. SYMBOL. Sounds like "cymbal".
21. STATUE OF LIBERTY. Anag of "butterflies toy" and "a". Is it a memorial? If so, of what? [[EDIT: "Lord of the Flies" tells me it commemorates "the alliance of France and the U.S. during the American Revolution".]]
24. ANT BEAR. Another bleedin' anag: "banter" and, again, "a".
25. EMOTION. Take the first letter off DEMOTION. "[You] angry, say" is the dreaded WPOS.
26. ARRANGE. Presumably R is for "recipe".
27. TANGELO. TANGO containing "The Spanish" (EL).
Down
1. BULLDOG. Bit of a stretch of the imagination here. BULL as in "bull (rising) market".
2. AU NATUREL. This is used humorously to mean "in the nude". How it also means "nice", I'm not sure. [[EDIT: Another of my readers, "Elmer", points out that "Nice" is the French city and so this may indicate a French expression. This is most likely right; except that the French don't use "au naturel" to mean "nude" or "naked". They use it to mean "as things really are". Maybe Dorothy thinks the inhabitants of Nice (and/or all Frenchmen and -women) "really are" in the buff all the time. She needs to get out more.]]
3. DITCH. "500" = D; "yen" = ITCH.
4. NICOLE. Our Nic from Baz's movie(s). "Business" = CO; River NILE.
5. WIPED OUT. Attempted double def. If you're wiped out, you don't fall off. A friggin' great wave comes and knocks you off. Not a lot of surfing in Maidenhead.
6. LED ASTRAY. Anag of "Ted" and "salary".
7. ERICA. Old crossword saw. "Ling" is also a favourite here.
8. SURGEON. (Un)cryptic def.
13. EPICUREAN. Another anag -- the last refuge of the unimaginative. "A prune ice".
15. AUBERGINE. Rather like "pud", not much used in this country. We prefer "egg plant" and/or "egg fruit". Anag (Zzzzzzzz) of "I argue" and "Ben".
16. RE-COURSE. Nuff said.
17. MASCARA. Another lousy cryptic def. It "runs [when the one wearing it is] crying".
19. LAY INTO. INTO and "a position within" don't mesh. WPOS?
20. ALBERT. ALERT containing B for "book".
22. ASTER. Take the first letter off MASTER.
23. BROWN. BROW is a rather obscure word for a gangway. Another of Baz's directees.
