diff --git a/setup/extensions.json b/setup/extensions.json
index 4abbde7edd..8397388f57 100644
--- a/setup/extensions.json
+++ b/setup/extensions.json
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
         "name": "sqlite_extension",
         "headers": "calibre/utils/cpp_binding.h",
         "sources": "calibre/db/sqlite_extension.cpp",
-		"needs_c++11": true,
+		"needs_c++14": true,
         "libraries": "icudata icui18n icuuc icuio stemmer",
         "windows_libraries": "icudt icuin icuuc icuio libstemmer",
         "lib_dirs": "!icu_lib_dirs",
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/sqlite_extension.cpp b/src/calibre/db/sqlite_extension.cpp
index 1b98f55cd8..7757de6142 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/sqlite_extension.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/db/sqlite_extension.cpp
@@ -246,8 +246,7 @@ private:
         if (!lang[0]) lang = current_ui_language.c_str();
         auto ans = stemmers.find(lang);
         if (ans == stemmers.end()) {
-            if (stem_words) stemmers[lang] = StemmerPtr(new Stemmer(lang));
-            else stemmers[lang] = StemmerPtr(new Stemmer());
+            stemmers[lang] = stem_words ? std::make_unique<Stemmer>(lang) : std::make_unique<Stemmer>();
             ans = stemmers.find(lang);
         }
         return ans->second;
@@ -375,10 +374,11 @@ _tok_create(void *sqlite3, const char **azArg, int nArg, Fts5Tokenizer **ppOut,
     int rc = SQLITE_OK;
     try {
         Tokenizer *p = new Tokenizer(azArg, nArg, stem_words);
-        *ppOut = reinterpret_cast<Fts5Tokenizer *>(p);
         if (p->constructor_error != SQLITE_OK)  {
             rc = p->constructor_error;
             delete p;
+        } else {
+            *ppOut = reinterpret_cast<Fts5Tokenizer *>(p);
         }
     } catch (std::bad_alloc const&) {
         return SQLITE_NOMEM;