The title compound, C(17)H(24)O(2), is the product of a haloform reaction of 6-acetyl-1,1,2,4,4,7-hexa-methyl-tetra-line (AHTN). The compound is a racemic mixture with a disorder in its aliphatic ring [occupany ratio 0.683 (4):0.317 (4)] due to two possible half-chair forms. The carb-oxy-lic acid unit is slightly twisted out of coplanarity with the aromatic system [dihedral angle = 29.26 (6)°]. In the crystal, pairs of short classical inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds link pairs of mol-ecules around a center of symmetry.