Crossword Genius

Serve as a piece of furniture, somehow not the best? (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

beatable

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

'not the best?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'serve as a piece of furniture somehow' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'piece' could be 'table' (I have seen 'Piece of furniture ' mean 'table' so perhaps 'piece' could also mean 'table') and 'table' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'be' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for beatable that I've seen before include "What poor teams are" , "can be crushed" , "Able to be defeated" , "not necessarily best" , "Open to being defeated" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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