Criminal tries alibi, lacking right skills (9)
I believe the answer is:
abilities
'skills' is the definition.
(skill can mean an ability)
'criminal tries alibi lacking right' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates an anagram.
'lacking' is a deletion indicator.
'right' becomes 'r' (common abbreviation).
'tries'+'alibi'='triesalibi'
'triesalibi' with 'r' taken out is 'tiesalibi'.
'tiesalibi' with letters rearranged gives 'ABILITIES'.
(Other definitions for abilities that I've seen before include "The powers to do" , "Talents" , "skills" .)