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Well, I have a full grid, after much huffing and puffing, but surely there are nine, not eight, entries too long for their space. This seems to be confirmed by the statement that "Nine of the extras define an altered entry" and I can match up those nine with the nine altered entries that I have.

Whether I have the strength to carry on with the endgame is an open question.

That’s correct but there’s only 8 cells with two letters in as one is checked

That’s true, Buddy, there are nine entries, but as one of the cells is checked, there are only eight cells that contain two letters, so I think the preamble is okay. But as you suggest, the gridfill is actually the easy part, believe it or not.

Hm, the preamble states that "Eight cells (only one checked) would need to contain two letters for answers to fit" implying that the checked cell also contains two letters before dropping one (which you must to form the new word, which is then defined by an omitted string from another clue). For such a fussy preamble that seems a bit vague.

The checked cell does contain two letters and loses one of the letters. As it is checked it forms part of two words hence nine words are too long for the space

In the final grid, there aren't any cells that contain two letters, as nine letters have been omitted so that the words fit. The omitted letters are then arranged to form the objects' name. But is the letter omitted from the checked cell included here, ie are there 8 letters or 9 in the objects' name?

If it's only 8. I'll stick with my assertion that the preamble is confusingly worded. However, if it's only 8, it's also easy to see what the name is, so there is that.

The preamble is clear to me. There are 8 cells with two letters in originally all of which lose one and those 8 letters that are lost make up the name of the objects

I believe it is only 8. The letter is used only once in the objects’ name

After another couple of hours I'm only 3 away from a filled grid. Can someone point me in the right direction for:

The across clue starting LUMINANT; the two down clues starting WELL and CALIBAN'S.

Luminant - typo in first word. Star’s back gives one letter in one letter for cloudy and 4 for somewhat

Caliban is Shakespearean indicator - cage is extra - word for became mouldy sounds like a word for trove

Well - typo in first word - three letter word for chap in three letter word for female