Apple Vision Pro: can't turn off URL search suggests

I have a very nice (real) keyboard for working on the Apple Vision Pro. Works great in text apps, etc. It also works for entering searches in Safari except that the suggestion genie for Safari never lets me get past one or two characters before jumping in with a suggestion and usurping my ability to keep typing. And, do not start the search question with the letter 'a'. It immediately suggests Apple with no further progress allowed. In the settings app, I have turned off suggestions and anything else that might circumvent this behavior but to no avail. I have shut down the AVP after changing the settings, no effect. What am I missing? Or is this a bug?

I should note that the work-around is to jump into Google search directly and this search field works correctly.