Love then spread to the Spanish, honest (2,3,5)
I believe the answer is:
on the level
'honest' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'love then spread to the spanish' is the wordplay.
'spread' is an anagram indicator.
'to the spanish' becomes 'el' ('the' in Spanish).
'love'+'then'='lovethen'
'lovethen' is an anagram of 'onthelev'.
'onthelev'+'el'='ON THE LEVEL'
(Other definitions for on the level that I've seen before include "No tipping" , "Fair; honestly speaking" , "Honest - genuine" , "Some horse racing is" , "Honest, truthful (colloq.)" .)