Paul,
> Is there any need to install the import plugin separately
> now with the revised download zip file?
if you have already installed the HotPot question import script from the zip file on my server, you don't need to download and install it again from the Moodle plugins repository.
This shouldn't be confusing.
There are two HotPot plugins for Moodle 2.x: the HotPot activity module and the HotPot question import script. You can either download them separately from the Moodle plugins repository, or you can download them together in that zip file from my server, which you refer to as the "revised download zip file".
At any given time, any of those zip files contain the most recent version of the HotPot plugins, so it doesn't really matter where you get them from.
hope that's clearer
Gordon