Hi,
Thank you for all the details, it helps us a lot.
I found the issue, it is due to the difference in filters on the dev and live search bars – namely the date filter. When I changed the filter to include posts from 2008, the results were almost identical to the dev site:
– Dev: https://i.imgur.com/SaLVFJV.png
– Live: https://i.imgur.com/6IebWe3.png
If you change the default value of that date filter to an earlier date, it will resolve the problem.