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Trev, I think you are correct with Hoskins providing the 'i' - that would fit with the link I found?
then
frill- thrill - ecstasy
e- extra
s=- small

a lucky guess.
although, the actor bob hoskins sounded very cockney (he was actually quite posh sounding when he was younger).

Going to drink my soup before it gets cold ...back shortly for the verdict....

Parsing makes much more sense now !

elle, E is what people call the drug ecstasy - i think frill = extra (no east end stuff happening).

Trevor, Elle, Pigale, Rusty - yes, the parsing all works.

Rusty, I will bow to you on the size of the undies - no-one I know would ever refer to 'frillies' anyway!

Thank goodness Trevor happened along!

Yes, good one, Trev!

That makes much better sense than my rather obscure Hoskin's dictionary reference!
That could be referred to as a red herring......
A strange coincidence though - it certainly muddied the waters for me!
Excuse all these mixed metaphors!

Hi, Rusty!
What a lot of excitement!
Well, we certainly shan't forget that Hoskins is a compiler of crosswords, now, shall we?
(and we have all had our brains well exercised!)
We had a great walk - the sun shone brilliantly, and it was a lovely day in that respect....but oh, it was so very cold.........I think whoever came up with today's temperature forgot to factor in the wind chill element!
It was bitter!
How are Phil and Victoria doing?

Hello, Elle,
Victoria could not stay in the saddle!
Her horse landed badly and pitched her on to the ground.
She is fine though, and on to Fakenham next Friday.
Phil has not started yet.
He will be last to go out at Pebble Beach.
Several hours yet.
We would have been going around in circles with the Hoskins clue if Trevor did not join in!