Pardon having a crack about bishop (7)
I believe the answer is:
absolve
'pardon' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a crack about bishop' is the wordplay.
'crack' becomes 'solve' (crack can mean to solve or decipher).
'about' says to put letters next to each other.
'bishop' becomes 'B' (chess abbreviation).
'solve' after 'b' is 'bsolve'.
'a'+'bsolve'='ABSOLVE'
'having' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for absolve that I've seen before include "Forgive sins" , "Declare (someone) blameless" , "Let off the hook" , "Lob vase (anag.)" , "Cleanse" .)