diff --git a/public/app/containers/Explore/Legend.tsx b/public/app/containers/Explore/Legend.tsx
index e00932fe566..439b6c3e54f 100644
--- a/public/app/containers/Explore/Legend.tsx
+++ b/public/app/containers/Explore/Legend.tsx
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ const LegendItem = ({ series }) => (
     <div className="graph-legend-icon">
       <i className="fa fa-minus pointer" style={{ color: series.color }} />
     </div>
-    <a className="graph-legend-alias pointer">{series.alias}</a>
+    <a className="graph-legend-alias pointer" title={series.alias}>
+      {series.alias}
+    </a>
   </div>
 );
 
diff --git a/public/app/containers/Explore/PromQueryField.tsx b/public/app/containers/Explore/PromQueryField.tsx
index 491e7005bd0..8188e516161 100644
--- a/public/app/containers/Explore/PromQueryField.tsx
+++ b/public/app/containers/Explore/PromQueryField.tsx
@@ -255,6 +255,8 @@ class PromQueryField extends React.Component<PromQueryFieldProps, PromQueryField
 
   // Keep this DOM-free for testing
   getTypeahead({ prefix, wrapperClasses, text }: PromTypeaheadInput): TypeaheadOutput {
+    // Syntax spans have 3 classes by default. More indicate a recognized token
+    const tokenRecognized = wrapperClasses.length > 3;
     // Determine candidates by CSS context
     if (_.includes(wrapperClasses, 'context-range')) {
       // Suggestions for metric[|]
@@ -266,7 +268,7 @@ class PromQueryField extends React.Component<PromQueryFieldProps, PromQueryField
       return this.getAggregationTypeahead.apply(this, arguments);
     } else if (
       // Non-empty but not inside known token
-      (prefix && !_.includes(wrapperClasses, 'token')) ||
+      (prefix && !tokenRecognized) ||
       (prefix === '' && !text.match(/^[)\s]+$/)) || // Empty context or after ')'
       text.match(/[+\-*/^%]/) // After binary operator
     ) {
diff --git a/public/app/containers/Explore/slate-plugins/braces.test.ts b/public/app/containers/Explore/slate-plugins/braces.test.ts
index dda805c07f7..410334d020f 100644
--- a/public/app/containers/Explore/slate-plugins/braces.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/containers/Explore/slate-plugins/braces.test.ts
@@ -53,4 +53,22 @@ describe('braces', () => {
     handler(event, change);
     expect(Plain.serialize(change.value)).toEqual('sum(rate(metric{namespace="dev", cluster="c1"}[2m]))');
   });
+
+  it('removes closing brace when opening brace is removed', () => {
+    const change = Plain.deserialize('time()').change();
+    let event;
+    change.move(5);
+    event = new window.KeyboardEvent('keydown', { key: 'Backspace' });
+    handler(event, change);
+    expect(Plain.serialize(change.value)).toEqual('time');
+  });
+
+  it('keeps closing brace when opening brace is removed and inner values exist', () => {
+    const change = Plain.deserialize('time(value)').change();
+    let event;
+    change.move(5);
+    event = new window.KeyboardEvent('keydown', { key: 'Backspace' });
+    const handled = handler(event, change);
+    expect(handled).toBeFalsy();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/public/app/containers/Explore/slate-plugins/braces.ts b/public/app/containers/Explore/slate-plugins/braces.ts
index 2ea58569ef0..f3a76263ad6 100644
--- a/public/app/containers/Explore/slate-plugins/braces.ts
+++ b/public/app/containers/Explore/slate-plugins/braces.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,22 @@ export default function BracesPlugin() {
           return true;
         }
 
+        case 'Backspace': {
+          const text = value.anchorText.text;
+          const offset = value.anchorOffset;
+          const previousChar = text[offset - 1];
+          const nextChar = text[offset];
+          if (BRACES[previousChar] && BRACES[previousChar] === nextChar) {
+            event.preventDefault();
+            // Remove closing brace if directly following
+            change
+              .deleteBackward()
+              .deleteForward()
+              .focus();
+            return true;
+          }
+        }
+
         default: {
           break;
         }
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/datasource.ts
index ca80b3760a7..b53b9eb34c1 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/datasource.ts
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ export function determineQueryHints(series: any[], datasource?: any): any[] {
 
     // Check for monotony
     const datapoints: number[][] = s.datapoints;
-    if (datapoints.length > 1) {
+    if (query.indexOf('rate(') === -1 && datapoints.length > 1) {
       let increasing = false;
       const monotonic = datapoints.filter(dp => dp[0] !== null).every((dp, index) => {
         if (index === 0) {
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/specs/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/specs/datasource.test.ts
index eef2bbd56b6..692a1827247 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/specs/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/prometheus/specs/datasource.test.ts
@@ -247,6 +247,12 @@ describe('PrometheusDatasource', () => {
       });
     });
 
+    it('returns no rate hint for a monotonously increasing series that already has a rate', () => {
+      const series = [{ datapoints: [[23, 1000], [24, 1001]], query: 'rate(metric[1m])', responseIndex: 0 }];
+      const hints = determineQueryHints(series);
+      expect(hints).toEqual([null]);
+    });
+
     it('returns a rate hint w/o action for a complex monotonously increasing series', () => {
       const series = [{ datapoints: [[23, 1000], [24, 1001]], query: 'sum(metric)', responseIndex: 0 }];
       const hints = determineQueryHints(series);