Crossword Genius

And one pal entered quite excited (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

animated

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

'quite excited' is the definition.
'animated' can be an answer for 'excited' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'quite' bit.

'and one pal entered' is the wordplay.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'pal' becomes 'mate' (I've seen this in other clues).
'entered' is an insertion indicator.
'i'+'mate'='imate'
'and' going around 'imate' is 'ANIMATED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for animated that I've seen before include "Enlivened (like a cartoon film)" , "put in spirit" , "Lively - like cartoon films" , "I and mate become lively" , "full of beans" .)

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