Spies take time to annoy (6)
I believe the answer is:
molest
'annoy' is the definition.
(molesting is a kind of annoying)
'spies take time' is the wordplay.
'spies' becomes 'moles' (mole is a kind of spy).
'take' says to put letters next to each other.
'time' becomes 't'.
'moles'+'t'='MOLEST'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for molest that I've seen before include "Handle roughly, torment" , "Bug" , "Pester unpleasantly" , "Attack sexually" , "Pester; assault" .)