Pine away - time to be useless (5)
I believe the answer is:
inept
'be useless' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'pine away time' is the wordplay.
'away' is an anagram indicator (letters move away from their original places).
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'pine' is an anagram of 'inep'.
'inep'+'t'='INEPT'
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for inept that I've seen before include "lacks skill" , "Lacking skill" , "Unsuitable, clumsy" , "Clumsy - silly" , "Clumsy, bumbling" .)