Prepares to pour tea? Is being ruined (4,2,3)
I believe the answer is:
goes to pot
'is being ruined' is the definition.
(something going to pot is being ruined)
'prepares to pour tea?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'to' is found in the answer.
'tea?' could be 't' (I've seen this in other clues) and 't' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
(Other definitions for goes to pot that I've seen before include "Prepares to follow snooker player" , "Become ruined" , "Becomes bad" , "cracks up" , "Deteriorates" .)