From a Sputnik to a negative

The negative double was devised in 1957 by Al Roth and Tobias Stone. They called it a Sputnik double because the Russians had just launched their satellite. The Roth-Stone version was very loosely defined, but was quickly modified and renamed to show an unbid major. (Why negative? I assume in contrast to a positive double for penalty.)

Look at the North hand in the diagram. After partner opens one diamond and West overcalls one spade, what would you do?

Without a negative double, presumably North would respond three no-trump, but that contract would have no chance. Instead, North makes a negative double to show four hearts (or five, if he has insufficient values for a twoheart response). South rebids two hearts, and North jumps to four hearts, despite the weakness of his trumps.

What happens after West leads the spade queen?

South has four possible losers: one spade (on the third round), two hearts and one club. He can afford to play one round of trumps, but when West takes the trick and returns another spade, declarer must win on the board, cash the diamond ace, overtake the diamond queen with his king and play the diamond jack, discarding the spade five from the dummy. Then South leads another trump. Shortly, he will claim, having lost only two hearts and one club.

Did you notice a defensive point? Assuming declarer starts with a heart to his jack, if West wins smoothly with his ace and leads a second spade, he might lull declarer into a false sense of security. If South immediately repeats the heart finesse, he goes down.