Well, this is embarrassing… Apparently I managed to inadvertently spawn a second Desktop and TOR was launching in that second desktop without my being aware of it, and running just fine. I only figured it out when I had the same issue with Chrome and noticed that not all my running apps were displayed. Mucking about with swipes I quickly realized what had happened.
Thanks to those who read my post and put any amount of thought into it. And thanks to the developers and hosts who make secure anonymous browsing possible.
Sparx