As far as "useless and making mischief" (2,2,2,4)
I believe the answer is:
up to no good
'making mischief' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'as far as useless' is the wordplay.
'as far as' becomes 'up to' ('up to' and 'as far as' can both mean 'until').
'useless' becomes 'no good' (I've seen this before).
'upto'+'nogood'='UP TO NO GOOD'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for up to no good that I've seen before include "Misbehaving" , "Scheming to do wrong(2.2.2.4)" , "Doing something wrong" , "Making mischief" , "Doing something mischievous" .)