  The light curve of comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS peaked in mid-April 2024, which
nearly coincided with a minimum phase angle of 2.9 deg. The question of a
possible correlation between the two events has implications for the comet's
overall performance. In this note I examine the light curve at times of equal
phase angles to circumvent the effect and show that the comet was as bright
intrinsically in late March as it was in early May. From a plot of the comet's
magnitude at unit geocentric distance against the phase angle before and after
its minimum on 18 April I derive a very steep phase law and a relatively flat,
r^(-2.55) light curve failing to fit the recently reported magnitudes. After
stalling in May and June, the comet's activity enters another surge (at a time
of peak phase effect), as fragmentation continues.
