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By Guy Jacobson
Answer: BREAM

The puzzle’s title CHINA KILNS anagrams word-wise to CHAIN LINKS, suggesting that anagramming and creating a chain of some kind are involved.

Each of the phrases is a clue for an answer that solvers need to enter in the blanks to its right. (These answers do not always have “dictionary nature.”) The clues are ordered such that their answers are alphabetical. Each answer has one red blank, selecting a single letter, with some letters being shifted in alphabetic position when marked with small signed integers below.

Here are the answers and selected letters for each clue phrase:

R ETHYNE INFIDELS A C E T Y L E N E H E R E T I C S
S TIGER BASKET A P R I N C E T O N D U N K
-1
R GIRL’S POTENTIAL C H I C K’ S V O L T A G E
-2
F BIDDIES FOR SURE D E F I N I T E L Y H E N S
N USE SCORN D E S P I S E
-2
E GIVE SACKCLOTH D O N A T E B U R L A P
E ANTI-POSITRONS E L E C T R O N S
A TIP-TOP CEREAL G R A I N A C M E
F POLLOCK TECHNIQUE O I L S P L A T T E R I N G
+1
R NEUTRON BARD P A R T I C L E P O E T
O HASTEN ELECTRIC EYE Q U I C K E N P H O T O C E L L
M RAVI SHANKAR R A G A M A N
B PLUNDER A BOAT R A V I S H A N A R K
+1
I DRUNKEN PONTIAC S O U S E D F I R E B I R D
G SOL CENTER S U N’ S C O R E
+2
H AIMS AT CYCLE T A R G E T S B I K E
-1
E CIGAR NAME T E — A M O
A ANAGRAM T R A N S P O S I T I O N
R CITY VOLE U R B A N R O D E N T
A IS SPEED V E L O C I T Y
-2
R A TOME W A R A N D P E A C E

Note that each answer is also an anagram of another clue phrase. Starting with the first capitalized phrase in the flavortext (A PREDAWN ACE), solvers can proceed to the answer that is an anagram of that (WAR AND PEACE), and from there go to the answer that is an anagram of the clue for WAR AND PEACE (A TOME, which anagrams to TE-AMO). Tracing through the clues and answers in this way produces a single chain, and ordering the answers using this chain produces this:

R A TOME W A R A N D P E A C E
E CIGAR NAME T E — A M O
A TIP-TOP CEREAL G R A I N A C M E
R NEUTRON BARD P A R T I C L E P O E T
R CITY VOLE U R B A N R O D E N T
A IS SPEED V E L O C I T Y
N USE SCORN D E S P I S E
G SOL CENTER S U N’ S C O R E
E ANTI-POSITRONS E L E C T R O N S
A ANAGRAM T R A N S P O S I T I O N
M RAVI SHANKAR R A G A M A N
B PLUNDER A BOAT R A V I S H A N A R K
E GIVE SACKCLOTH D O N A T E B U R L A P
R GIRL’S POTENTIAL C H I C K’ S V O L T A G E
F POLLOCK TECHNIQUE O I L S P L A T T E R I N G
O HASTEN ELECTRIC EYE Q U I C K E N P H O T O C E L L
R ETHYNE INFIDELS A C E T Y L E N E H E R E T I C S
F BIDDIES FOR SURE D E F I N I T E L Y H E N S
I DRUNKEN PONTIAC S O U S E D F I R E B I R D
S TIGER BASKET A P R I N C E T O N D U N K
H AIMS AT CYCLE T A R G E T S B I K E

Note that the final clue phrase anagrams to the second capitalized phrase in the flavortext (MYSTICAL ACE), ending the chain. With this chain ordering, the selected letters spell out the message “REARRANGE AMBER FOR FISH,” which clues BREAM, this puzzle’s answer.