Ive got a SP 2013 environment where an AD user property (initials) is mapped to an indexed user profile property, and then I have a managed property mapped to the crawled property. 

I can get correct results when I query the property specifically by searching for:

Initials:XYZ

But if I just search for XYZ, (without specifying the property name) nothing is returned. 

Any idea why that might happen?

Heres how the field is set up (and yes, it is set to be queryable and searchable.)

User Profile

• Display Name: Initials; Type: String; Length: 25; Default User Profile Subtype: Yes
• Policy Setting: Required
• Default Privacy Setting: Everyone
• Allow users to edit: No
• Indexed: Yes
• Property mapping: Attribute=initials; Direction=import

(Ive used powershell to review the users profile properties and confirm that the Initials property is populated.)

Search

Crawled properties

• Property Name: urn:schemas-microsoft-com:sharepoint:portal:profile:Initials
• Category: People
• Mappings to managed properties: Initials(Text)
• Include in full text index: Yes

Managed properties

• Property Name: Initials
• Type: Text
• Characteristics: Searchable, Queryable, Retrievable, Token Normalization, Complete Matching
• Advanced searchable settings:  Full-text index = PeopleIdx; Weight group = Context 0
• Mapped to crawled properties: Include content from all; People:Initials

• Edited by Rob MacMorran Friday, March 27, 2015 6:30 AM Clarification

I've made no changes since I posted this, but this 'randomly' started working.  Obviously it wasn't random, but I can't tell you what made it work. 

• Marked as answer by Rebecca TuMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, March 30, 2015 6:01 AM