Crossword Genius

Endowment for foot soldier? On the contrary (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gift

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'endowment' is the definition.
(I know that endowment can be written as gift)

'foot soldier? on the contrary' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'foot' could be 'ft' (synonyms) and 'ft' is located in the answer.
'soldier?' could be 'gi' (GI can mean a US soldier) and 'gi' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'for' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for gift that I've seen before include "Present - natural aptitude" , "Knack" , "Donation" , "Give away" , "A natural attribute" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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