Monterey - External display not detected / won't wake after screen lock

Based on the number of threads on this topic (here, Reddit, Stackoverflow etc.) this is clearly an issue with Monterey and it needs fixing.

I've run a Dell 2407 monitor for 15 years now across multiple devices, including my 14" MBP, without issue. As soon as I upgraded to Monterey that changed everything - I now have the problem whereby as soon as the screen sleeps (e.g. after 10 minutes of inactivity) it is impossible to get it back to life. OSX can't detect it, you can unplug/replug the cable, turn the monitor off and on, power cycle it for 15 seconds, install "Display Manu" to bring back the "Detect Monitors" feature (remind me why that feature was ever removed from Display settings?)... but nothing will bring the monitor back to life. The only way to get the monitor back into a usable state is to restart the MBP *in safe mode*, followed by another reboot into normal mode, after which the monitor works flawlessly until it next goes to sleep.

Has anyone found a solution to this that doesn't require 2 reboots and when will Apple acknowledge that something in Monterey has royally messed up the way external displays are treated?