Got it after a number of days searching:
(function ($) {
Drupal.behaviors.hotTopicsResearch = {
attach: function(context, settings) {
$(document).bind('drupalOverlayBeforeLoad', function(event) {
$('#simple-dialog-container', context).dialog('close');
});
},
weight: 11
}
})(jQuery);
The other events seem to have the wrong order. 'drupalOverlayOpen' almost works except that the editing overlay never 'becomes active'. This is why I was trying to work on the target editing screen events rather than the open dialog.
overlay_paths without there being'use case documentation' it looks like it only applies to menu items. How to manually use Drupal 7's admin Overlay? shows you how to add content nodes to the admin paths. This displayed my node in the admin overlay, but without the background context being visible - defeating the point - and with some further quirks.
