Crossword Genius

New paintings up on top of steeple come to light (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

transpire

'come to light' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'new paintings up on top of steeple' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'paintings' becomes 'art' (painting is a type of artwork).
'up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'on top of' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'steeple' becomes 'spire' (synonyms).
'n'+'art'='nart'
'nart' back-to-front is 'tran'.
'tran'+'spire'='TRANSPIRE'

(Other definitions for transpire that I've seen before include "revealed" , "Happen[s]" , "Turn out" , "exhale" , "Come to pass" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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