Pretended to arrange a date around mid-Oct. (5)
I believe the answer is:
acted
'pretended' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'arrange a date around mid-oct' is the wordplay.
'arrange' indicates anagramming the letters.
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'mid' says to take the centre (mid- can mean the middle of something).
The central letter of 'oct' is 'c'.
'date' anagrammed gives 'ated'.
'ated' enclosing 'c' is 'ACTED'.
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for acted that I've seen before include "Play a role" , "Behaved like thespian" , "Feigned" , "Behaved in a certain manner" , "Behaved or performed" .)