Flusters wildly about newspaper in vain (9)
I believe the answer is:
fruitless
'vain' is the definition.
('fruitless' can be a synonym of 'vain')
'flusters wildly about newspaper' is the wordplay.
'wildly' indicates an anagram.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'newspaper' becomes 'i' (UK newspaper).
'flusters' with letters rearranged gives 'frutless'.
'frutless' enclosing 'i' is 'FRUITLESS'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for fruitless that I've seen before include "Vain" , "failing to achieve the desired results" , "Such an unhealthy diet" , "being without dates, perhaps" , "Unprofitable" .)