diff --git a/docs/TICKETS.md b/docs/TICKETS.md
index 389cb66..c0d23ae 100644
--- a/docs/TICKETS.md
+++ b/docs/TICKETS.md
@@ -92,9 +92,10 @@ Newest first. Update on every open/close.
 
 | ID       | Title                                          | Status                | Opened     | Directive |
 |----------|------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|------------|-----------|
-| #000048  | Verifier upgrade — recombination-aware grounding + clause segmentation | in progress · **steps 2.1 + 2.4 landed 2026-05-11; step 2.2 attempted + reverted.** 2.1: `verify_quotes` entity salient-token-disagreement gate (`_entity_salient_disagrees` + `_is_single_sentence`) → `falsification-hard` 6/12 → 10/12. 2.4: `parse_pointer_claims` clause segmentation (`_SEGMENT_SEP_RE` split kept only when every segment is well-pointered; leading colon-header dropped; wrapped-bullet join) → `formulate-hard` 4/12 → 12/12 (at ceiling). Each bench-gated (`make bench-qa` n=3×75×3 — 0 / 7-lattice-cells-touched-both-correct; all deltas within the 5-pp floor). 2 live-pack `expected_reason` updated HYBRID_ENTITY→UNGROUNDED. 2.2 (single-clause-containment paraphrase check): catches the 2 recombination fixtures but also rejects legit cross-sentence summaries (the Batman case) with no threshold separating the two — recombination-vs-summary isn't lexical; reverted. **Recommendation: close at 2.1+2.4** (12 of 16 residual items closed; the 2 `falsification-hard` recombination fixtures a documented marker; an attribution-aware verifier = §2.3, its own ticket if ever). #000046 follow-up; awaiting fox's close-or-keep-open call | 2026-05-11 | —         |
+| #000049  | Attribution-aware grounding check (the recombination boundary) | open · awaiting go/no-go · doc-only; the home for #000048's deferred §2.3 — closing the 2 recombination over-grounds in `falsification-hard` (hard-003 Mercury / hard-005 Einstein) needs an attribution / dependency-parse or mini-NLI check, which is *not lexical* (#000048 §5). First decision = the discipline question: may a small fixed purpose-built NLI/entailment *model* influence `audit_mode`? (vs the "no LLM-as-judge" rule). Recommends Option 2.3 (do nothing — the 2 fixtures are a boundary marker) until real-traffic recombination-over-grounds show up, then Option 2.2 (`[nli]` extra, policy-gated, off-by-default, bench-gated) *if* fox rules a fixed NLI model is acceptable. #000048 follow-up | 2026-05-12 | —         |
+| #000048  | Verifier upgrade — recombination-aware grounding + clause segmentation | **closed · 2026-05-12** — steps 2.1 + 2.4 landed 2026-05-11 (12 of 16 residual items: 4 HYBRID_ENTITY over-grounds + 8 Formulate mis-segments → `formulate-hard` 12/12, `falsification-hard` 10/12; each bench-gated, no STRICT-rate regression — 2.1's gate fired on 0 QA answers, 2.4's segmenter touched 7 of 450 lattice cells both verdict changes correct). Step 2.2 (single-clause-containment paraphrase check) attempted + reverted — catches the 2 recombination fixtures but also rejects legit cross-sentence summaries with no threshold separating the two; recombination-vs-summary isn't lexical (§5 "What we learned"). The attribution-aware path moved to **#000049** (fox 2026-05-12). 2 live-pack `expected_reason` updated HYBRID_ENTITY→UNGROUNDED; 12+ tests; `make bench-5f-falsification-hard` / `bench-5f-formulate-hard` / `bench-fork-baseline-hard`. #000046 follow-up; #000047 closed | 2026-05-11 | —         |
 | #000047  | ForkScore `_delta_*` aggregator (mean vs max vs sum) | **closed · 2026-05-11** — Option D: `WeightSet.delta_aggregator` ∈ {`mean`,`max`,`sum`} (default `mean` unchanged → no `ESTIMATOR_VERSION` bump), `fork_score._delta_5{s,t,f}` dispatch via `_aggregate`, recorded in `ScoredFork.weights`, per-sub `HARD_REGRESSION_FLOOR` flags aggregator-independent; bench data behind keeping `mean` in `5f-threshold-calibration-2026-05-11.md` §5; 8+1 tests. #000012-revision / #000025 §10.14 follow-up | 2026-05-11 | —         |
-| #000046  | Harder 5S/5T/5F fixture tier (below-ceiling baselines) | **closed · 2026-05-11** — Phase 1 `falsification-hard-v1.jsonl` (12 near-misses) + Phase 2 `formulate-hard-v1.jsonl` (12 mis-segments, rate 4/12) + Phase 3 `verify_quotes` paraphrase numeric-agreement gate (`_numeric_signature`; demotes a token-covering span asserting a digit-number the source lacks modulo thousands-comma) → falsification-hard rate 4/12 → 6/12 on a real change; bench-gated (`make bench-qa` n=3×75×3 before/after — no STRICT-rate regression on legit answers; only gate-caused QA shift was correctly demoting a fictional-year claim STRICT→HYBRID); `fork_score` γ·Δ5f went positive on it. Headroom now down to 2 falsification-hard over-grounds (#000048 step 2.1 closed the 4 entity over-grounds; step 2.4 closed the 8 Formulate mis-segments → that pack 12/12; step 2.2 attempted + reverted — the last 2 recombination fixtures need an attribution-aware verifier, #000048 §2.3, and stand as documented residue). `make bench-5f-falsification-hard` / `bench-5f-formulate-hard` / `bench-fork-baseline-hard`; 7+ tests. #000025 §10.14 follow-up; #000047 closed; #000048 follow-up | 2026-05-11 | —         |
+| #000046  | Harder 5S/5T/5F fixture tier (below-ceiling baselines) | **closed · 2026-05-11** — Phase 1 `falsification-hard-v1.jsonl` (12 near-misses) + Phase 2 `formulate-hard-v1.jsonl` (12 mis-segments, rate 4/12) + Phase 3 `verify_quotes` paraphrase numeric-agreement gate (`_numeric_signature`; demotes a token-covering span asserting a digit-number the source lacks modulo thousands-comma) → falsification-hard rate 4/12 → 6/12 on a real change; bench-gated (`make bench-qa` n=3×75×3 before/after — no STRICT-rate regression on legit answers; only gate-caused QA shift was correctly demoting a fictional-year claim STRICT→HYBRID); `fork_score` γ·Δ5f went positive on it. Headroom now down to 2 falsification-hard over-grounds (#000048 step 2.1 closed the 4 entity over-grounds; step 2.4 closed the 8 Formulate mis-segments → that pack 12/12; step 2.2 attempted + reverted — the last 2 recombination fixtures need an attribution-aware verifier, now tracked as **#000049**, and stand as documented residue). `make bench-5f-falsification-hard` / `bench-5f-formulate-hard` / `bench-fork-baseline-hard`; 7+ tests. #000025 §10.14 follow-up; #000047 closed; #000048 closed | 2026-05-11 | —         |
 | #000045  | Prometheus-Σ Phase 3 sleep-sweep scheduler (gating ticket) | open · doc-only scaffold 2026-05-10; pins 8 governance parameters + 4 retrigger gates; opens implementation only after one retrigger fires | 2026-05-10 | —         |
 | #000044  | AUTOCOUNT doc-drift discipline | closed · landed across `fc5ba50` / `03c0f6a` / `6c6defb` / `f5dbfab` / `3b30126` 2026-05-10 (mechanism + 4 metrics + 54 tags across 7 doc files; harness catches drift at test time, refresh is 60-second turnaround) | 2026-05-10 | —         |
 | #000043  | Empirical tightening of T3 bound constants (#000036 Phase 2) | open · awaiting go/no-go (parks until v7 deployment surfaces measurement data) | 2026-05-10 | —         |
@@ -143,4 +144,4 @@ Newest first. Update on every open/close.
 
 ## Next ID
 
-`000049`
+`000050`
diff --git a/docs/tickets/ticket-000012-selection-consensus-protocol.md b/docs/tickets/ticket-000012-selection-consensus-protocol.md
index f1f1003..419750b 100644
--- a/docs/tickets/ticket-000012-selection-consensus-protocol.md
+++ b/docs/tickets/ticket-000012-selection-consensus-protocol.md
@@ -589,5 +589,5 @@ protocol must account for:
    over-grounds — #000048 step 2.2 (a lexical clause-containment
    check) was attempted and reverted (can't tell recombination from a
    legit cross-sentence summary; #000048 §5), so closing those needs
-   an attribution-aware verifier (#000048 §2.3, its own ticket if
+   an attribution-aware verifier (#000049, its own ticket if
    wanted) — an optional follow-up, not a #000012 blocker.
diff --git a/docs/tickets/ticket-000046-harder-5sf-fixture-tier.md b/docs/tickets/ticket-000046-harder-5sf-fixture-tier.md
index 84ca840..de22bc4 100644
--- a/docs/tickets/ticket-000046-harder-5sf-fixture-tier.md
+++ b/docs/tickets/ticket-000046-harder-5sf-fixture-tier.md
@@ -291,8 +291,8 @@ into a different true statement). #000048 step 2.2 (a single-clause-
 containment lexical check) was *attempted and reverted* — it can't
 distinguish that recombination from a legitimate cross-sentence
 summary, and no threshold separates them (#000048 §5 "What we
-learned"); closing those 2 needs an attribution-aware verifier
-(#000048 §2.3 — its own ticket if ever wanted), so they stand as
+learned"); closing those 2 needs an attribution-aware verifier —
+its own ticket, **#000049** — so they stand as
 documented residue. #000046 is done: the below-ceiling baselines
 exist, real surface improvements (numeric gate, entity gate, clause
 segmenter) lifted rates, and ForkScore's bench-Δ went positive on
diff --git a/docs/tickets/ticket-000048-verifier-upgrade-recombination-segmentation.md b/docs/tickets/ticket-000048-verifier-upgrade-recombination-segmentation.md
index 2f6cddd..3228a4b 100644
--- a/docs/tickets/ticket-000048-verifier-upgrade-recombination-segmentation.md
+++ b/docs/tickets/ticket-000048-verifier-upgrade-recombination-segmentation.md
@@ -1,18 +1,18 @@
 # Ticket #000048 — Verifier upgrade: recombination-aware grounding + clause segmentation
 
-**Status:** in progress · **steps 2.1 + 2.4 landed 2026-05-11; step
-2.2 attempted + reverted (not feasible as a conservative lexical
-change — see §5).** 2.1 — `verify_quotes` entity salient-token gate
-(`falsification-hard` 6/12 → 10/12; bench-gated, 0 gate-attributable
-QA shifts). 2.4 — `parse_pointer_claims` clause segmentation
-(`formulate-hard` 4/12 → 12/12, at ceiling; bench-gated, 7 lattice
-cells touched, both verdict changes correct). 2.2 — a single-clause-
-containment paraphrase check catches the 2 recombination fixtures but
-also rejects legit cross-sentence summaries with no threshold that
-separates the two; reverted. **Recommendation: close at 2.1+2.4** —
-the 2 residual `falsification-hard` recombination fixtures stand as a
-documented marker; an attribution-aware verifier (§2.3) opens as its
-own ticket if ever wanted. Awaiting fox's close-or-keep-open call.
+**Status:** **closed · 2026-05-12** — steps 2.1 + 2.4 landed
+2026-05-11 (12 of 16 residual items: 4 HYBRID_ENTITY over-grounds +
+8 Formulate mis-segments → `formulate-hard` 12/12, `falsification-hard`
+10/12; each bench-gated, no STRICT-rate regression). Step 2.2 (a
+single-clause-containment paraphrase check) was attempted + reverted
+— it catches the 2 recombination fixtures but also rejects legit
+cross-sentence summaries with no threshold separating the two
+(recombination-vs-summary isn't lexical; §5 "What we learned"). The
+attribution-aware path for those last 2 (and the broader recombination
+class) moved to **#000049**; step 2.3 / mini-NLI lives there now, not
+here. The 2 residual `falsification-hard` fixtures (hard-003 Mercury,
+hard-005 Einstein) stand as a documented marker of where the lexical
+verifier stops.
 **Opened:** 2026-05-11
 **Scope:** Close the headroom #000046 left in the two below-ceiling 5F
 hard packs — the 6 over-grounds still in `falsification-hard-v1.jsonl`
@@ -138,9 +138,9 @@ learned"). It needs either a small entailment/contradiction model
 check ("for each content token in the answer, find its
 subject/predicate in the source; flag if the answer attaches it
 elsewhere") — both bigger surface than #000048's "lexical,
-deterministic, no-LLM-judge" scope, and both warrant their own
-ticket. **Not in scope for #000048**; the 2 residual fixtures are a
-documented marker of where this would pick up.
+deterministic, no-LLM-judge" scope. **Moved to #000049** (fox,
+2026-05-12 — its own ticket); the 2 residual fixtures are a
+documented marker of where #000049 would pick up.
 
 ### 2.4 `parse_pointer_claims` — sentence/clause segmentation
 
@@ -381,18 +381,19 @@ just a single failed attempt:
 
 ### Closure
 
-Steps 2.1 + 2.4 landed (12 of the original 16 residual items: 4
-HYBRID_ENTITY over-grounds + 8 Formulate mis-segments closed →
-`formulate-hard` 12/12, `falsification-hard` 10/12). Step 2.2 found
-infeasible as a conservative lexical change (above); step 2.3
-(mini-NLI / attribution) is the only path to the last 2, and it's a
-model-dependency / bigger-surface move out of #000048's "lexical,
-deterministic, no-LLM-judge" scope. **Recommendation: close #000048
-at 2.1+2.4** — the 2 residual `falsification-hard` fixtures (hard-003
-Mercury, hard-005 Einstein) stand as a documented marker of exactly
-where the lexical verifier stops; if an attribution-aware verifier is
-ever wanted, it opens as its own ticket (the natural home for §2.3).
-Awaiting fox's call (close at 2.1+2.4, or keep open for §2.3).
+**Closed 2026-05-12 at 2.1+2.4.** Steps 2.1 + 2.4 landed (12 of the
+original 16 residual items: 4 HYBRID_ENTITY over-grounds + 8 Formulate
+mis-segments closed → `formulate-hard` 12/12, `falsification-hard`
+10/12; each bench-gated, no STRICT-rate regression). Step 2.2 found
+infeasible as a conservative lexical change (above). The
+attribution-aware path for the last 2 — step 2.3 / mini-NLI /
+dependency-attribution, the only thing that can distinguish a
+recombination from a legit cross-sentence summary — **moved to
+#000049** (fox's call, 2026-05-12: that capability is its own
+ticket, not a #000048 phase). The 2 residual `falsification-hard`
+fixtures (hard-003 Mercury, hard-005 Einstein) stand as a documented
+marker of exactly where the lexical verifier stops; #000049 weighs
+whether to cross that boundary and at what cost.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/docs/tickets/ticket-000049-attribution-aware-grounding-check.md b/docs/tickets/ticket-000049-attribution-aware-grounding-check.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b118ba9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/tickets/ticket-000049-attribution-aware-grounding-check.md
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+# Ticket #000049 — Attribution-aware grounding check (the recombination boundary)
+
+**Status:** open · awaiting go/no-go
+**Opened:** 2026-05-12
+**Scope:** Decide whether — and if so how — to add a verifier check
+that catches a *recombination*: a claim whose content tokens are all
+present in the source but **paired with different subjects/predicates
+than the answer asserts**, so the answer is false even though it
+"covers" the source lexically. Doc-only proposal: the problem, the
+design options (dependency-attribution heuristic vs. mini-NLI model),
+the discipline trade-off, a recommendation. No code in this ticket.
+**Audience:** fox + maintainers of `arborist/qa/verify.py` + #000048
+follow-up readers + anyone weighing "do we put an ML model in the
+verifier path?".
+**Hard constraint:** whatever lands here is bench-gated (`make
+bench-qa` n=3, before/after — STRICT-rate must not regress on legit
+answers). It MUST NOT break the existing layered verifier
+(quote→span→entity→paraphrase, first-to-classify); a contradiction
+signal *demotes*, never promotes. **The "no LLM-as-judge in the
+verifier" rule still holds** — a small purpose-built NLI/entailment
+*model* is a discipline question this ticket has to settle explicitly
+(it is not the same as "ask the answering LLM to grade itself", but
+it is an ML model in the proof-adjacent path); a dependency-parse
+heuristic sidesteps that but is brittle. No schema / governance-hash /
+canonicalization-version change.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Problem statement
+
+`#000048` (closed 2026-05-12) closed 12 of the 16 residual
+over-grounds/mis-segments via *lexical* surface improvements: the
+numeric-agreement gate (`#000046` Phase 3), the entity
+salient-token-disagreement gate (`#000048` step 2.1 — an *absence*
+signal: a digit / capitalized token the source doesn't contain), and
+the `parse_pointer_claims` clause segmenter (`#000048` step 2.4 — a
+*structure-of-the-model's-own-output* signal). What it could **not**
+close — and `#000048` §5 "What we learned" spells out why — is the
+**recombination** class:
+
+- `5f-fal-hard-003`: "Mercury is the largest planet in the Solar
+  System." against source "Jupiter is the largest planet in the
+  Solar System; **Mercury is the smallest**." — the answer reuses
+  the source's "largest planet in the Solar System" (which is the
+  source's predicate for *Jupiter*) and the source's "Mercury"
+  (whose predicate is *smallest*), pairing them into a falsehood.
+  Token-coverage = 1.0 (every content token is *somewhere* in the
+  source); the entity gate doesn't fire (no token is *absent*);
+  `verify_quotes` returns STRICT_PARAPHRASE or (post-#000048 step
+  2.1, since the paraphrase path now falls through) HYBRID_ENTITY.
+- `5f-fal-hard-005`: "Albert Einstein developed the theory of
+  evolution." against "Albert Einstein developed the theory of
+  relativity; **Charles Darwin developed evolution**." — same
+  shape: the source's "Albert Einstein developed the theory of"
+  paired with the source's "evolution" (whose subject is *Darwin*).
+
+`#000048` §5 established that this is **not a lexical question**:
+a recombination and a legitimate cross-sentence summary ("Batman,
+who is the alias of Bruce Wayne, lives in Gotham City." over "Batman
+is the alias of Bruce Wayne. Batman lives in Gotham City.") have the
+*same* lexical profile (tokens scattered across source clauses), and
+the recombination's best-single-clause coverage (4/5) sits *above*
+the legit summary's (4/6) — no token-coverage / clause-containment /
+bigram threshold separates them in the safe direction. The
+discriminating fact is **attribution**: in the source, is the
+answer's token X attached to the same subject/predicate the answer
+attaches it to? That requires either parsing the source's
+dependency/predicate structure or an entailment judgment — i.e., a
+capability the lexical verifier deliberately doesn't have. This
+ticket is the home for "do we want that capability, and at what
+cost?".
+
+(Out-of-scope-of-#000048 was the conclusion; here it's the subject.)
+
+---
+
+## 2. Design options
+
+### 2.1 — dependency-attribution heuristic (no model)
+
+A small hand-rolled check, run on the paraphrase path (and the entity
+path's weakest slot) when a span token-covers the source but spans
+multiple source clauses: for each *content token* in the answer span,
+find its occurrence(s) in the source; identify the nearest preceding
+*subject-like* token (a capitalized noun phrase) and the nearest
+*predicate-like* head; if the answer pairs token X with subject S but
+in the source X's nearest subject is S′ ≠ S, flag a contradiction →
+the span is not grounded. No new dependency: just regex/heuristic
+parsing of "S … (verb) … X" patterns. **Pro:** stays within the
+"no-model" verifier discipline; deterministic. **Con:** brittle —
+"nearest capitalized noun before X" is a crude proxy for "X's
+syntactic subject"; passive voice, appositives, coordination, and
+list structure all break it; tuning it without over-firing on legit
+paraphrases (which reorder freely *within* a clause) is the same
+threshold-can't-separate problem one rung up the abstraction ladder.
+Likely catches the 2 contrived fixtures with hand-tuning but provides
+little assurance on the general class.
+
+### 2.2 — small purpose-built NLI / entailment model (a model dependency)
+
+Run a tiny sentence-pair entailment model (a few-hundred-MB DeBERTa-
+or RoBERTa-NLI checkpoint, CPU-fast) on `(source_clause, answer_span)`
+pairs the lexical path is unsure about; if the best-matching source
+clause *contradicts* (not just "doesn't entail") the answer span,
+demote. **Pro:** this is the *right* capability for the recombination
+class — "Mercury is the largest" vs "Mercury is the smallest" is a
+textbook contradiction; "Batman lives in Gotham" vs "Batman is the
+alias of Bruce Wayne" is neutral/entailed, not contradicted. **Con:**
+(a) **a model in the verifier path** — even though it's *not* "the
+answering LLM grading itself" (it's a fixed, purpose-built classifier
+with no shared parameters), it is an ML model whose output influences
+`audit_mode`, which the "no LLM-as-judge" rule was written to keep
+out; settling whether a small fixed NLI model is allowed is the
+*first* decision this ticket needs. (b) a new optional dependency
+(`transformers` + a checkpoint) — keep it behind a `[nli]` extra so a
+fresh checkout still needs only python+venv+sqlite3, and gate it
+behind `entity_policy`-style policy so it's off-by-default until
+benched. (c) non-determinism risk — pin the checkpoint + run on CPU
+with a fixed dtype; entailment classifiers are deterministic given
+that, but it's a thing to verify and pin. (d) latency — only run it
+on the small subset the lexical path can't resolve.
+
+### 2.3 — do nothing; the 2 fixtures stand as a marker
+
+`falsification-hard` at 10/12 is already a real below-ceiling
+baseline; the 2 recombination fixtures *are* the documentation of
+where the lexical verifier stops (#000048 §5). Closing them buys
+2/12 on a contrived pack at the cost of (heuristic brittleness, or a
+model dependency). If no real QA-bench evidence shows recombination
+over-grounds happening at scale on actual traffic, this is the
+honest choice. (No bench evidence of that exists today — the #000048
+step-2.1/2.4 per-row diffs found 0 gate-attributable and 0
+segmenter-attributable *legit* harms; they didn't surface
+recombination-over-grounds in real answers either, because the
+paraphrase path is a last resort that rarely fires on real Wikipedia
+QA.)
+
+---
+
+## 3. Recommendation
+
+**Option 2.3 (do nothing) for now — but settle the Option-2.2
+discipline question if/when recombination over-grounds show up on
+real traffic.** Rationale:
+
+1. The lexical verifier is honest about its boundary (the 2 fixtures
+   document it); there's no observed real-traffic harm.
+2. Option 2.1 (heuristic) is the same threshold-can't-separate
+   problem dressed up — low assurance, real over-fire risk on the
+   QA bench.
+3. Option 2.2 (NLI model) is the right *capability* but the wrong
+   *cost* until there's evidence it's needed: it forces the
+   "is a fixed NLI model an LLM-judge?" decision, adds a dependency,
+   and adds a non-determinism surface to pin — all for a contrived
+   2/12.
+4. The trigger to revisit: a `make bench-qa` per-row diff (or a
+   field report) showing a *legitimate-looking but false* answer
+   getting STRICT/HYBRID via the paraphrase/entity path because it
+   recombined source tokens. At that point this ticket reopens with
+   real data, and Option 2.2 (behind a `[nli]` extra, policy-gated,
+   off by default, bench-gated) becomes the path — *if* fox rules a
+   fixed purpose-built NLI model is acceptable in the proof-adjacent
+   path (it's a genuine discipline call; the safe default is "no",
+   in which case 2.3 stands permanently and the 2 fixtures are just
+   permanent boundary markers).
+
+---
+
+## 4. Out of scope
+
+- **The `falsification-hard` / `formulate-hard` packs themselves** —
+  #000046 built them; this ticket would change the verifier surface,
+  not the fixtures.
+- **`fork_score` / the aggregator / the bench Δ-rate mechanics** —
+  unchanged; this only affects which `audit_mode` `verify_quotes`
+  returns on a recombination span, hence `falsification-hard`'s rate.
+- **Replacing the lexical verifier wholesale with an embedding/LLM
+  one** — a far bigger architectural move; this ticket is narrowly
+  about an *added* contradiction check, lexical path untouched as the
+  first-line.
+- **A harder fixture tier** — #000046's territory if the current
+  packs go saturated again.
+
+---
+
+## 5. Status
+
+**Open · awaiting go/no-go.** Doc-only. The first thing fox decides
+is the **discipline question** in §2.2's con (a): may a small, fixed,
+purpose-built NLI/entailment model influence `audit_mode`? — `yes` →
+Option 2.2 becomes viable when triggered (§3 #4); `no` → Option 2.3
+stands and the 2 recombination fixtures are permanent boundary
+markers. The second decision (only if `yes` and triggered) is the
+implementation: a `[nli]` extra + a pinned CPU checkpoint + policy-
+gated off-by-default + the `make bench-qa` before/after gate. Until
+then: nothing lands; `falsification-hard` stays 10/12.
+
+---
+
+## 6. References
+
+- `docs/tickets/ticket-000048-verifier-upgrade-recombination-segmentation.md`
+  (closed) — §5 "What we learned" is the argument that recombination
+  isn't lexical; §2.3 there sketched this; this ticket is its home.
+- `docs/tickets/ticket-000046-harder-5sf-fixture-tier.md` (closed) —
+  built `falsification-hard` (`5f-fal-hard-003` Mercury, `-005`
+  Einstein are the 2 residual recombination fixtures this ticket
+  would close).
+- `bench/fixtures/5f/falsification-hard-v1.jsonl` — the 2 fixtures.
+- `arborist/qa/verify.py` — the layered verifier; a contradiction
+  check would attach to the paraphrase path + the entity path's
+  weakest slot (the same places #000046 / #000048 step 2.1's gates
+  attach).
+- `docs/bench-maxing.md` — the bench discipline (n=3, 5-pp floor,
+  honest verdicts over optimistic) every step here honors.
+- `docs/seven-point-program.md` D1 ("no LLM in the verifier") — the
+  rule §2.2's con (a) tests against.