diff --git a/tests/test_debugger.py b/tests/test_debugger.py
index 5feed31..0e88f5d 100644
--- a/tests/test_debugger.py
+++ b/tests/test_debugger.py
@@ -405,9 +405,11 @@ def test_multi_daemon_subactors(spawn, loglevel):
 
 
 def test_multi_subactors_root_errors(spawn):
-    """Multiple subactors, both erroring and breakpointing as well as
+    '''
+    Multiple subactors, both erroring and breakpointing as well as
     a nested subactor erroring.
-    """
+
+    '''
     child = spawn('multi_subactor_root_errors')
 
     # scan for the pdbpp prompt
@@ -578,10 +580,6 @@ def test_different_debug_mode_per_actor(
     assert "Attaching to pdb in crashed actor: ('debugged_boi'" in before
     assert "RuntimeError" in before
 
-    # the crash boi should not have made a debugger request but
-    # instead crashed completely
-    assert "tractor._exceptions.RemoteActorError: ('crash_boi'" in before
-
     child.sendline('c')
     child.expect(pexpect.EOF)
 
@@ -592,5 +590,9 @@ def test_different_debug_mode_per_actor(
     # msg reported back from the debug mode actor is processed.
     # assert "tractor._exceptions.RemoteActorError: ('debugged_boi'" in before
 
+    assert "tractor._exceptions.RemoteActorError: ('crash_boi'" in before
+
+    # the crash boi should not have made a debugger request but
+    # instead crashed completely
     assert "tractor._exceptions.RemoteActorError: ('crash_boi'" in before
     assert "RuntimeError" in before
diff --git a/tractor/_debug.py b/tractor/_debug.py
index 9ee9674..34097f1 100644
--- a/tractor/_debug.py
+++ b/tractor/_debug.py
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ async def _hijack_stdin_for_child(
 
                 # indicate to child that we've locked stdio
                 await ctx.started('Locked')
-                log.pdb(f"Actor {subactor_uid} ACQUIRED stdin hijack lock")
+                log.debug(f"Actor {subactor_uid} acquired stdin hijack lock")
 
                 # wait for unlock pdb by child
                 async with ctx.open_stream() as stream:
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ async def acquire_debug_lock(
 
 async def maybe_wait_for_debugger(
     poll_steps: int = 2,
-    poll_delay: float = 0.01,
+    poll_delay: float = 0.1,
     child_in_debug: bool = False,
 
 ) -> None:
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ async def maybe_wait_for_debugger(
             if _global_actor_in_debug:
                 sub_in_debug = tuple(_global_actor_in_debug)
 
-            log.warning(
+            log.debug(
                 'Root polling for debug')
 
             with trio.CancelScope(shield=True):
@@ -621,7 +621,7 @@ async def maybe_wait_for_debugger(
                     (debug_complete and
                      not debug_complete.is_set())
                 ):
-                    log.warning(
+                    log.debug(
                         'Root has errored but pdb is in use by '
                         f'child {sub_in_debug}\n'
                         'Waiting on tty lock to release..')
@@ -631,6 +631,6 @@ async def maybe_wait_for_debugger(
                 await trio.sleep(poll_delay)
                 continue
         else:
-            log.warning(
+            log.debug(
                     'Root acquired TTY LOCK'
             )
diff --git a/tractor/_supervise.py b/tractor/_supervise.py
index ae224a8..3bc8694 100644
--- a/tractor/_supervise.py
+++ b/tractor/_supervise.py
@@ -350,9 +350,12 @@ async def _open_and_supervise_one_cancels_all_nursery(
 
         ) as err:
 
+            # XXX: yet another guard before allowing the cancel
+            # sequence in case a (single) child is in debug.
             await maybe_wait_for_debugger(
                 child_in_debug=anursery._at_least_one_child_in_debug
             )
+
             # If actor-local error was raised while waiting on
             # ".run_in_actor()" actors then we also want to cancel all
             # remaining sub-actors (due to our lone strategy: