Insect collections retained in case of trouble (6)
I believe the answer is:
tsetse
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">insect</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(tsetse is a kind of insect)</span><br/ ><br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">collections retained in case of trouble</span>' is the wordplay.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">collections</span>' becomes '<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">sets</span>' <span class="explanation-format__explanation">(set is a kind of collection)</span>.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">retained in</span>' means one lot of letters goes inside another.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">case of</span>' means to remove the middle letters <span class="explanation-format__explanation">(outsides of)</span>.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original"><span class="explanation-format__em">t</span>roubl<span class="explanation-format__em">e</span></span>' with its middle removed is '<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">te</span>'.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">sets</span>' put inside '<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">te</span>' is '<span class="explanation-format__answer">TSETSE</span>'.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for tsetse that I've seen before include "flies" , "African transmitter" , "source of sleeping sickness" , "carrier of disease" , "cause of sleepiness?" .)