Compare - can't select Left image in 9.4

I’ve used the Compare feature (Opt+C) in Lightroom heavily for a long time. It’s critical that we be able to bring focus to either the left or right image in Compare view, in order to flag / crop / edit that image. 

But In Lightroom 9.4, clicking the Left image fails to select it. However, if I click the Swap icon, it’s now the right image that can’t be selected.

Update: Turns out the issue and source of UI confusion is actually the Multiple Images / Before and After selector. If I toggle it to Multiple, it works normally again. But something about the 9.4 update switched the default to Before/After (I guarantee that I didn’t do that - I never touch that widget), resulting in the broken behavior.