Excuse from work of felt (3,3)
I believe the answer is:
let off
'excuse' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'work of felt' is the wordplay.
'work' is an anagram indicator.
'of'+'felt'='offelt'
'offelt' with letters rearranged gives 'LET OFF'.
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for let off that I've seen before include "Discharge (a firework)" , "not guillotined?" , "Pardon - discharge" , "Fire escape" , "Allowed to go" .)