Crossword Genius

Foolish nerd liked getting excited again (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rekindled

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'excited again' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with human feelings as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'foolish nerd liked getting' is the wordplay.
'foolish' indicates an anagram (a foolish spelling).
'getting' says to put letters next to each other.
'nerd'+'liked'='nerdliked'
'nerdliked' is an anagram of 'REKINDLED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rekindled that I've seen before include "Revived" , "Fired over" , "Aroused (of former interests)" , "Invigorated" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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