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Zealots destroying Ireland in hours (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hardliners

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'zealots' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'destroying ireland in hours' is the wordplay.
'destroying' is an anagram indicator.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hours' becomes 'hrs' ('hr' can be a synonym of 'hour').
'ireland' with letters rearranged gives 'ardline'.
'ardline' placed into 'hrs' is 'HARDLINERS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for hardliners that I've seen is " Uncompromising types".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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