Pretend to be excited, wasting time (9)
I believe the answer is:
simulated
'pretend' is the definition.
'excited wasting time' is the wordplay.
'excited' becomes 'stimulated' ('stimulate' can be a synonym of 'excite').
'wasting' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'time' becomes 't'.
'stimulated' with 't' taken away is 'SIMULATED'.
'to be' is the link.
(Other definitions for simulated that I've seen before include "Pretended" , "Feigned, imitated" .)