Crossword Genius

The duke may put his foot in it (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

wellington

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

'the duke may put his foot in it' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'duke may put his foot in it' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'duke' could be 'ellington' (I've seen this before) and 'ellington' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'w' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for wellington that I've seen before include "Knee-length boot" , "Footwear" , "Kind of boot" , "Statesman" , "NZ capital" .)

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