Crossword Genius

Originally Alan Partridge maybe pulling faces in foolish endeavour (1,4,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

a mugs game

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

'foolish endeavour' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'originally alan partridge maybe pulling faces' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'partridge' could be 'game' (game bird) and 'game' is located in the answer.
'faces' could be 'mugs' (mug is a kind of face) and 'mugs' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'a' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for a mugs game that I've seen before include "Something only fools would do" , "It's futile" , "competition one's likely to lose?" , "Foolish sport" , "losing battle" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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