Things look bad after this fruit lies around area (12)
I believe the answer is:
uglification
'things look bad after this' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'fruit lies around area' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'fruit' could be 'ugli' (ugli fruit is a kind of fruit) and 'ugli' is found in the answer.
'around' could be 'ca' (circa) and 'ca' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for uglification that I've seen before include "Alice never heard of such a thing!" , "Giving nasty looks" .)