“Excuse me from meal”, I repeated, interjecting “Bravo!” (5)
I believe the answer is:
alibi
'excuse' is the definition.
(excuse given by a suspect in an investigation)
'me from meal i repeated interjecting bravo' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'me' could be 'i' and 'i' is located in the answer.
'i' could be 'a' and 'a' is found in the answer.
'bravo' could be 'b' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.) and 'b' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'li' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alibi that I've seen before include "Legal defence proving innocence" , "Justification" , "Legal term from the Latin 'elsewhere'" , "Legal defence, plea" , "Proof of being elsewhere at the time of a crime." .)