Sailors love tortuous excuse (7)
I believe the answer is:
absolve
'excuse' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sailors love tortuous' is the wordplay.
'sailors' becomes 'abs' (AB is short for able seaman).
'tortuous' indicates anagramming the letters.
'love' is an anagram of 'olve'.
'abs'+'olve'='ABSOLVE'
(Other definitions for absolve that I've seen before include "Exonerate" , "Declare (someone) guilt-free" , "Forgive sins" , "Clear of blame or quilt" , "Clear of blame or guilt" .)