Crossword Genius

Justify copper's infiltration of Windows file (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

excuse

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'justify' is the definition.
(I know that excuse is a kind of justify)

'copper's infiltration of windows file' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'copper's' could be 'cus' (chemical symbol) and 'cus' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'exe' 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 excuse that I've seen before include "Absolve" , "Let off or make allowances for" , "Mitigate; forgive" , "Allow to be released from a duty" , "Defence of offensive behaviour" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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