Cryptic crossword clue
Thin gentlemen distilled the spirit of the 18th-century 13

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 13 letter word ENLIGHTENMENT

I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
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Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "the spirit of the 18th-century" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case the spirit of the 18th-century = enlightenment.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

What does ENLIGHTENMENT mean?

ENLIGHTENMENT noun
  1. An act of enlightening, or the state of being enlightened or instructed.
  2. A concept in spirituality, philosophy and psychology related to achieving clarity of perception, reason and knowledge.

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