Setter's wretched existence? (1,4,4)
I believe the answer is:
a dogs life
'wretched existence?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'setter's' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'setter's' could be 'dogs' (a setter is a type of dog) and 'dogs' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'alife' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for a dogs life that I've seen before include "Rotten existence of canine kind" , "Bad time!" , "A wretched existence of canine kind" , "An unhappy existence, fraught with problems" , "miserable" .)