It's almost noon, soon (6)

I believe the answer is:

nearly

'it's almost' is the definition.
('nearly' can be a synonym of 'almost')

'noon soon' is the wordplay.
'noon' becomes 'n'.
'soon' becomes 'early' (I've seen this before).
'n'+'early'='NEARLY'

(Other definitions for nearly that I've seen before include "Close" , "approximately" , "Almost, well-nigh" , "Give out a bright light" , "Almost, not quite" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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