application launcher in Leap 15.5

[john k.]

Gentlemen;

Never had any issue with the App Launcher (opened by the smiling lizard 
button, LL corner of KDE desktop) until 15.5.

If it matters, I had been doing Leap upgrades for a long time, but a 
disk problem required a full install.  First thing I noticed was the 
launcher remained open (transparent) over the desktop, including program 
it just opened.  I had to fiddle around to learn what to press to close 
it.  While Esc will close it, the focus must be returned to it by a 
well-placed click, (and not on the top bar), from the just opened app, 
which is no faster than clicking the lizard again.  I found myself 
initially clicking the button Applications, just above lizard, which 
made things worse.  In short, my criticism is that I expect (and 
previously had) the launcher disappear by the time the chosen app opened.

Is this behavior an error, or an improvement?  If a person only opened 
apps but did not use them, this would be great.  I am not skillful 
enough to know if there is some setting to close it once it launches 
chosen App.  There doesn't seem to be an option in the Configure App 
launcher menu.  How do I get the older 15.4 version (or whatever didn't 
behave this way) if this is an "improvement"?

John