Mysterious Metronome Click Problem

Hello. Yesterday I could press “play” and there would be no metronome on playback. Today there is a click on playback even though the metronome settings are the same (click only on record). Weirdly the FIRST beat of the piece does not have a click. Any ideas appreciated!

In addition - if I start playback on beat two of the first bar, or later, the metronome behaves as expected.

Restarting Cubase fixed it.

No it didn’t. It returned after a few minutes. Driving me a bit nuts.

Well it was Punch In being activated. I suppose I hit a key command by accident. Once I deactivate Punch In all is well.