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you could <https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/dependency_downgrade_and_exclude.html#sec:excluding-transitive-deps|exclude> the transitive dependency.

I'm told that this solution isn't working; Gradle evidently still wants to see the POM file before it processes exclusions

Doesn’t seem right.  It won’t attempt to formulas something that I’d excluded.  Perhaps it isn’t fully excluded - a build scan can help determine where the dep is pulled in from 