Crossword Genius

The thing badly placed in gallery to amuse (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

titillate

'amuse' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'the thing badly placed in gallery' is the wordplay.
'the thing' becomes 'it'.
'badly' becomes 'ill' ('ill' can be adverbial as in 'ill-advised').
'placed in' is an insertion indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'gallery' becomes 'tate' (Tate Modern, Tate Britain etc).
'it'+'ill'='itill'
'itill' inserted inside 'tate' is 'TITILLATE'.

'to' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for titillate that I've seen before include "Thrill" , "Excite pleasurably" , "Excite erotically" , "Stimulate agreeably" , "Pique" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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