The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 6 plus 2 plus 4 letter word PRETTY KETTLE OF FISH
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
P
R
E
T
T
Y
K
E
T
T
L
E
O
F
F
I
S
H
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "in difficult situation" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case in difficult situation = pretty kettle of fish.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.