The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 plus 6 letter word MUDDY THE WATERS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
M
U
D
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T
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More clues leading to the result MUDDY THE WATERS
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "to make things more confusing" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case to make things more confusing = muddy the waters.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.