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