Don't start to accept war-god's challenges. (5)

I believe the answer is:

dares

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'challenges' is the definition.
(I know this)

'don't start to accept war-god's' is the wordplay.
'start to' says to take the initial letters.
'accept war' becomes 'a' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'god's' becomes 'Re's' (Re is an example).
The first letter of 'dont' is 'd'.
'd'+'a'+'res'='DARES'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dares that I've seen before include "Ventures" , "Has the courage to do brave or dangerous thing" , "Challenges to do something dangerous" , "''Who ..., wins'' (SAS motto)" , "Risks" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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