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The solving instructions say "One square must contain a beetle showing possible alternatives to one of the [answers]".

I am wondering what the word "beetle" refers to here - from the context it looks like it could be two letters in one space, resulting in two equally-valid answers. From the overall thread of the puzzle, there could well be a few words differing by just one letter.

Also, of course, of you have two letters in one square - especailly if the one is written on top of the other - it would look like a squashed beetle.

I have trawled various X-word sites, but cannot find this as a technical term. any offers ?

Not a crossword I do but have seen a clue, to look at the beginning of 41 across for a variant start to find the 'beetle'.

41A has two alternative spellings at the beginning of the word. To allow for both the setter has had to introduce 'beetle' as an additional clue (but think car!).