Crossword Genius

Bottle and bell placed beside heather, inspiring fear? (5-8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spine-tingling

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'bottle and bell placed beside heather inspiring fear?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'bottle and bell placed beside heather' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is present in the answer.
'heather' could be 'ling' (synonyms) and 'ling' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for spine-tingling that I've seen before include "Scary - exciting" , "Causing fear or excitement" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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