Crossword Genius

The Italian gets a point, but it's hardly a score! (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nil

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

'a score' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'the italian gets a point but it's hardly' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'italian' could be 'i' (abbreviation for Italian) and 'i' is found in the answer.
'point' could be 'n' (N is an example) and 'n' is located in the answer.
A single letter 'l' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nil that I've seen before include "Nothing - in Latin" , "Lacking value" , "Love" , "duck" , "Zero, no score" .)

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