“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 understand how this works, but
'me' could be 'i' and 'i' is located in the answer.
'i' could be 'a' and 'a' is located in the answer.
'bravo' could be 'b' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.) and 'b' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'li' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
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." .)