Credentials were indeed the problem. I discovered 10 minutes after I posted.
Whenever I booted up the sim I skipped the login because I got the “login name or password” incorrect error. And, I knew both were correct as I was logged into the e-store. I could still fly in my nooby way so not a big deal. Until I made my first purchase.
I closed all open instances and changed my password from the Apple generated one, with all the dashes (-) to another, non-dashed PW. All’s good.
