Forgave former partner who uttered expletive when redhead left (7)
I believe the answer is:
excused
'forgave' is the definition.
(excusing is a kind of forgiving)
'former partner who uttered expletive when redhead left' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'former' could be 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime) and 'ex' is located in the answer.
'partner' could be 's' and 's' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'cued' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for excused that I've seen before include "Exonerated" , "Made allowances for" , "Granted exemption" , "Let off (a duty)" , "Forgiven" .)