Yes, I waited.
The WeMos D1 mini LED is flickering constantly and, using Putty @9600, outputs a steady stream that's indecipherable.
The programming adapter for the ESP-01 & ESP-01S does not pull-up anything other than CH_PD which may account for them appearing deaf/mute to Putty.
In any event, I've decided to use USR IOT devices which are preprogrammed and which have USR IOT virtual serial port software.
https://www.usriot.com/products/uart-wifi-modules/