There's a #honeysql channel for future questions, and that issue of needing the extra brackets is specifically called out in the docs. Let me know if you have suggestions for making that clearer.

No, no the docs are fantastic, I’m just blind. 😅 Honeysql has made it so pleasant to use sql, that the next thing you know you are really pushing the limits of what you are trying to get the database to do from a query extravagance perspective. Thanks again.