The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 letter word HOT SEAT
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
H
O
T
S
E
A
T
More clues leading to the result HOT SEAT
- Difficult situation of throaty Sue, pasty regularly
- Dine after host's abandoned position of responsibility
- Uncomfortable position that may set one's trousers on fire?
- Under pressure here, tries not to start to worry
- Tough position — perhaps as a result of lying?
- Those horrible cheers going up – a tricky situation
- Doctor hates having returned to position of responsibility
- Tricky place to put sexy bottom
- Pants perhaps on fire with this stressful situation
- Fired first to end worry in difficult position
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Tough position" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tough position = hot seat.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.