Crossword Genius

Might be kind of familiar to make appeal, they say (4,1,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ring a bell

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

'kind of familiar to make appeal they say' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'might be' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'be' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ring a bell that I've seen before include "Advice to cyclist" , "to remind one of something" , "Signal to start class" , "faintly resonate" , "What door-to-door salesman's wont to do" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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