Okay, I found a workaround that works for me, in case someone else comes along this thread:
Preferences > Tweaks > Completion mode when editing authors/tags/series/etc.
Change
Quote:
|
completion_mode = 'prefix'
|
to
Quote:
|
completion_mode = 'contains'
|
Not
exactly what I was looking for, but still
leagues better than it was before.