Unholy act of scholar overcoming cold bug (9)

I believe the answer is:

sacrilege

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'unholy act' is the definition.
'sacrilege' can be an answer for 'act' (sacrilege is a kind of act). I'm not sure about the 'unholy' bit.

'scholar overcoming cold bug' is the wordplay.
'scholar' becomes 'sage' (both can mean a wise person).
'overcoming' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'cold' becomes 'c' (eg on taps).
'bug' becomes 'rile' (both can mean annoy).
'c'+'rile'='crile'
'sage' placed around 'crile' is 'SACRILEGE'.

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sacrilege that I've seen before include "Misuse of something sacred" , "Desecration, profanation" , "Blasphemous behaviour" , "Disrespect or damage to something sacred" , "profanity" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Mail.

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