Crossword Genius

I had energy to follow wife and roll out blanket (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

widespread

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'blanket' is the definition.

'i had energy to follow wife and roll out' is the wordplay.
'had energy' becomes 'de' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to follow' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'roll out' becomes 'spread'.
'i'+'de'='ide'
'ide' after 'w' is 'wide'.
'wide'+'spread'='WIDESPREAD'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for widespread that I've seen before include "Extensive" , "Generally prevalent" , "broad" , "available to lots of people" , "Sweeping" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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