Select the range to format ( D3:AA3,say)
Open CF wizard
New rule enter =D$2=0
Format as needed
Done


( the $ sign before the row number is important)

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Nope, that didn't work either. I understand fixing the row and/or column value in a cell reference, and thought (if that had worked) that it would be odd to make fixing the row value force the column value to slew through the application of that rule. But, it didn't do that anyway. After applying that rule exactly as described, each cell *shows* D2 (the criteria cell for the origin cell in the array) as its criteria cell - but even with that the conditional formatting does not work on ANY of the cells in the array.

FWIW, this is not the first time that expert advice that works in one copy of MS Excel 2016 simply doesn't work in another. I am more convinced than ever that Excel (and to a lesser degree the other major Office apps) has just been totally screwed up by the decline in dev discipline and attitude at MS over the past 10-12 years. As much as I think the G suite Spreadsheets is inferior in its set of features, I will probably have to shift to that since what they do offer actually works.

But thanks for trying.