WordPress theme framework

So the dreaded word “framework” creeps into the WordPress discussion

Framework, I venture to suggest, often means a serious overcomplication of code in the holy names of consistency, effective MVC, semantic accuracy and a few other buzzwords. I’ve had to sort out a fair few sites that used a PHP framework, where a couple of classes and a MySQL function wrapper would have done the job much more efficiently.

It’s not that here - but there remains the implication that codified is best. WordPress code is a serious mess, but, not including 2.5, does have the virtue of working.

I have tried the parent-child theme business, in combination with page templates etc in the past - the results? Patchy, the system does things that you just don’t expect and the more  complicated template tags  (fair enough, they’re not primarily designed for that sort of thing)  get wonky - to use a tech term - very quickly.
Probably there are CMS-type apps you can do; whether it represents any value in the more mainstream run of things - doubt it, but would be happy to be persuaded otherwise…