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Almost ditto, brendan (I did look it up... eventually}.

5d Current goes under fat swimmer on East coast (7)....how does the answer work please?
similarly with 1a Economist who reported drink to auditors

Hi Xwordfan,

5d - 4 letter "fat swimmer" + 2 letter "current" (as in 'fashionable') + E(ast) - definition is "coast"

I had tried to see if "current" might be the usual single letter but I don't think that really works.

1a - a homophone/reported of "drink - definition is "economist" (a specific one) but this is one of the themed answers so you have to remove 3 lettered you know who.

Sorry Xwordfan,

1a - definition is "economist who reported" and the homophone indicator is "to auditors".

Unusually for the EV, I thought this was the most challenging of the weekend trio. But that might have something to do with the fact that I may be the only person in the UK with absolutely zero experience of the theme - and much else like it. (Not something I’m proud of; it’s not the content, I just don’t like the medium.) Had I been more up to date, the extra letters in the two shortened entries might have been all I needed to jalouse the theme. Google enlightened me and, armed with the knowledge so gleaned, I was able to complete the puzzle and admire its extremely clever construction. Many thanks, Artix; I enjoyed the challenge and have been much educated!

Many thanks Brendan

I sat through the thematic subject with Mrs bobbycollins and thoroughly disliked it but kept my gob shut. By contrast we have just started rewatching "Better Call Saul" from the beginning - now that is an absolute treat!

Jack, I expect there are many many people in the UK with absolutely no experience of the theme. That's one of the random thrills of thematic crosswords, surely? If I looked back on the past year of EV and Inquisitor, there's many a theme that was wasted on me - some I found boring, some I just gritted my teeth and forced myself to learn a bit more about the subject (only so I could finish the puzzle).

And yes, I did enjoy this well-crafted puzzle, by the way!

Thank you, Malone. You are a generous confessor (with and without caps and in many senses).

Thanks, Jack. I'm sure a few of my 'dreary' puzzles included some I've seen lauded on here! And I know, deep down, that it's good to have a variety of topics, and that what doesn't suit me will be appreciated by others.