Crossword Genius

Hit or miss affair indicating a wrongful conviction? (5,3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

trial and error

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

'wrongful conviction' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'hit or miss affair indicating a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'or' is found in the answer.
'miss' could be 'err' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'err' is located in the answer.
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for trial and error that I've seen before include "testing process" , "Heuristic process" , "One needs a means of finding the truth" , "Testing method" , "Experiment" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail and The Irish Independent.
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