Exaggerate the merits of maidens possibly facing 'orrible situation (8)
I believe the answer is:
oversell
'exaggerate the merits of' is the definition.
(oversell can mean to exaggerate a thing's quality)
'maidens possibly facing 'orrible situation' is the wordplay.
'maidens possibly' becomes 'overs' (maiden is a kind of over).
'facing' means one lot of letters go next to another.
''orrible situation' becomes ''ell' ('hell' - hell can mean a horrible or difficult situation - said with the 'H' dropped, a cockney accent, like 'horrible situation' was).
'overs'+'ell'='OVERSELL'
(Another definition for oversell that I've seen is " Exaggerate merits".)