5.1.4
Thanks @sooz @Lynx3d - you’ve helped me uncover how I am my own worst enemy. After reading what you wrote, still was working for me (even after clearing out my roaming Krita directory and reinstalling).
Come to find out that because my keyboard is off to my left, I’m accidentally hitting the z and then e with my sausage fingers - I didn’t notice it until I was staring at the layers panel while doing it 
To add, it doesn’t surprise me that i some how ctrl-z’ed my way to unlocking the layer after creating the new one - because at the start, i’ll go through some general shapes - and I’ll be hitting ctrl-z to undo and refine - usually until i get back to blank canvas.