Acquitted, without leave, of having done the deed (5)
I believe the answer is:
acted
'acquitted without leave of having done' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'deed' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'deed' could be 'act' (an action) and 'act' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'ed' 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).
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acted that I've seen before include "Play a role" , "Played a role" , "Played a 30ac" , "did something!" , "Took part in play" .)