Acquits us in the last 90 points (7)
I believe the answer is:
excuses
'acquits' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'us in the last 90 points' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'the last' becomes 'e' (I've seen this in other clues).
'90' becomes 'xc' (Roman numerals).
'points' becomes 'es' (E is an example).
'e'+'xc'+'es'='exces'
'us' put inside 'exces' is 'EXCUSES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for excuses that I've seen before include "Gives reasons for" , "Lets (someone) off duty" , "Defences of objective behaviour" , "Clears" , "reasons for failure" .)