The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 plus 4 plus 4 letter word HOW THE LAND LIES
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
H
O
W
T
H
E
L
A
N
D
L
I
E
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "the current situation" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case the current situation = how the land lies.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.