Time and fear soon spread enlightenment (3,2,6)

I believe the answer is:

age of reason

'enlightenment' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'time and fear soon spread' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 'age' (an age is a period of time).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'spread' indicates an anagram.
'fear'+'soon'='fearsoon'
'fearsoon' is an anagram of 'ofreason'.
'age'+'ofreason'='AGE OF REASON'

(Another definition for age of reason that I've seen is " "Enlightenment"".)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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