"Plugs look dry (is a wet plug actually supposed to be damp with gas, btw?)..."

Yes, sometimes saturated, dripping with gas. OK, plugs aren't wet, this isn't the cause.

"...under the impression that a misbehaving FPR would cause poor running rather than a no start -- is that incorrect?"

No and yes. A misbehaving FPR will cause poor running, but a REALLY misbevaving FPR will flood the engine in gas. But it'll also flood the plugs.

The confusing point is your previous comment about smelling gas at the exhaust. Apparently it's not too much gas.

Are you sure you have spark even when it refuses to fire up?

This isn't rocket science -- if you have adequate spark at the right time, and you have more or less proper fuel, it should start and run. So one or the other is not adequate.

Could the gas smell be coming from the 2 seconds it runs, but then it starves for fuel?
--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)