Update - a workaround is to use another package such as spreadsheet_decoder in case of excel package errors. I can decode the excel sheet normally with the other package, extract the data, and ...

The sheets in this Excel file have long names with spaces; changing them the SheetN does not help. Trying to loading a specific sheet results in the same error: ...

If the ERROR.TYPE function in Excel not working for you, ensure the formula is correct, check for errors in the referenced cell, or repair Excel.