Times Quick Crossword No 3048 by Izetti

It’s in Collins, as “a person habitually given to predictions of impending disaster or doom“

The definition refers to the game of bridge, where the four players are named North, South, EAST and West

The origins of ‘love’ as a zero score in tennis lie in the figure zero’s resemblance to an egg. In sport, it’s common to refer to a nil or nought score as a duck or goose egg, and the French word for egg is l’oeuf – the pronunciation of which isn’t too far removed from the English ‘love’.

There is another more tenuous theory. In Dutch and Flemish, the word lof means honour, so in the most sporting context, anyone struggling to score is still playing for honour.

This clue is a ‘semi &lit’ where the whole of the clue is the definition, but only part of the clue forms the wordplay.

Check out the Glossary under Useful Links on the TfTT pages for a pretty chunky list of crossword jargon used in these blogs.

1. A kind of paint using glue and water instead of an oil base, for use on walls or for scene-painting.

2. In young dogs particularly, a viral disease causing fever, coughing and catarrh.

Ascot is a racecourse in Berkshire covering 179 acres (72 ha) leased from the Crown Estate. It was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne and is about 6 miles (10km) from Windsor Castle.

‘getting up’ as a reversal indicator is apposite as this is a down clue.

I was interested to learn where G.I. as an informal term referring to “a soldier in the United States army” came from.

It was originally [1906/7] an initialism on U.S. Army paperwork for items made from galvanised iron. During WWI, U.S. soldiers took to referring to heavy German artillery shells as “G.I. cans”.

During the same war, “G.I.”, reinterpreted as “government issue” or “general issue”, began to be used to refer to any item associated with the U.S. Army, e.g., “G.I. soap”. Other reinterpretations of “G.I.” include “garrison issue” and “general infantry”.