The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 7 plus 6 letter word THE NAUGHTY CORNER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
T
H
E
N
A
U
G
H
T
Y
C
O
R
N
E
R
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "punishment … or maybe not" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case punishment … or maybe not = the naughty corner.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.