Crossword Genius

Tart crumbled in officers’ dining room makes a soft base (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mattress

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'a soft base' is the definition.

'tart crumbled in officers' dining room' is the wordplay.
'crumbled' indicates an anagram.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'officers' dining room' becomes 'mess' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'tart' anagrammed gives 'attr'.
'attr' put into 'mess' is 'MATTRESS'.

'makes' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mattress that I've seen before include "Sleeping support" , "Nap on this" , "Pad to sleep on" , "Smartest kind of bed-base" , "Flat sleeping pad" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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