Okay. I did some experimenting, and it turns out the 'bug' IS related to my deceased spouse! I mentioned our filing jointly in the past in my original message, in case it was important.
In the past, he has been the taxpayer (age 77 at end of 2021) and I was the (same sex) spouse (age 67 at end of 2021). I used last year's (2019) file as a starting point for 2020 turbotax.
So, when I switched to filing 'separate' for estimated purposes, Turobtax took my husband's info. The worksheet shows the taxpayers age as 77 and spouse age is blank. The field on the worksheet for "do you qualify for an additional standard deduction" is blank for taxpayer and I cannot change it (options drop down, but stay in box). The spouse box shows 1 no matter what I put in the interview. In all cases, the total box on the worksheet always stays 0.
Now I understand how turbotax is 'thinking.'
Shall I start a new thread to find out how to make me the taxpayer and my deceased husband as the spouse?
