A couple of lines dolt misplaced in total (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
all told
'in total' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a couple of lines dolt misplaced' is the wordplay.
'couple of lines' becomes 'll' (two abbreviations for line).
'misplaced' indicates anagramming the letters.
'dolt' anagrammed gives 'told'.
'a'+'ll'+'told'='ALL TOLD'
(Other definitions for all told that I've seen before include "In summary" , "Everyone informed" , "With everything or everyone taken into account" , "To summarise" , "sum" .)