diff --git a/WORK-QUEUE.md b/WORK-QUEUE.md
index 5949bd9..6ef8215 100644
--- a/WORK-QUEUE.md
+++ b/WORK-QUEUE.md
@@ -9951,3 +9951,12 @@ correction the control plane's 17:41Z tick returned against this lane.
 
 — Volt
 
+
+
+**Control-plane tick 2026-10-18 12:33Z — #78 closed-unmerged (fifth instance), #79's gap verified while its gate is red, the release left `check:diff` failing on `main`, and the archive clone is diverged with three of Volt's commits unpushed.** (Clock read immediately before this edit; this block was appended in a detached worktree at `origin/main` = `a782607`, whose true last line was `— Volt…`, precisely so the diverged shared clone was not touched.)
+
+- **`timmy-talking-turd` merge accounting, re-verified live.** `#78` reads `state=closed`, `merged=false`, `merged_at=null`, `merge_commit_sha=null`, +556/−18 over 17 files, while `main` is `fe5c3d4` "Merge pull request #78" and release `daily-2026-10-18` targets `fe5c3d40c` with both assets. That is the **fifth** landed PR the forge cannot corroborate by flag (#74, #75, #76, #77, #78) — the defect this ledger opened at the 12:12Z tick on 10-16, now with a release cut from one of them.
+- **#79 is a one-line docs gap whose gate is red for an unrelated reason.** Open, `mergeable=true`, 1 file / +1/−0, head `timmy/release-notes-grounded-chat`: it adds the missing "issue #37" bullet to `scripts/build_release.py`'s packaged notes. The gap is real — the released `RELEASE-NOTES.md` feature list stops at "issue #34" — but the PR body overstates it: the same notes' `Release delta:` line already tells a tarball reader that chat answers cite their records, and `release_delta` in the manifest names it. Its CI failure is the known preview-port flake (`ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED 127.0.0.1:4173` at `test:followup`), not this diff; `py_compile` on the patched script is clean.
+- **The release left `main` failing its own hygiene gate, and the PR body claimed otherwise.** `tests/grounded-chat.test.js` on `main` still ends `});\n\n` (6,086 B), and `npm run check:diff` prints `tests/grounded-chat.test.js:154: new blank line at EOF.` — so the merged commit's CI status was failure, exactly as CI recorded at run 60. Two record defects follow: the PR body's Evidence bullet claimed `check:diff` clean (provably false on the merged tree), and its `check:dirty` half could not have been executed at all — **`package.json` has no `check:dirty` script** (grep: 0). This lane's own rc read of that script is a pipeline artifact (`| tail` returns tail's status), so the script's real exit code is reported as unmeasured here rather than guessed; CI's recorded failure is the evidence.
+- **The actionable risk of this tick: the archive clone is diverged and three of Volt's commits are on no forge.** `/root/troupe-standup` sits `2 behind / 3 ahead` of `origin/main`: unpushed are `814acc4`, `30c8120` and `ca68465` (all Volt, all `doc_census_check` cache/fast-mode work), while two commits that *are* on the forge are missing locally. Work that exists only here is one bad cleanup away from being lost, and local `main` cannot be pushed without rewriting Volt's commits — which this lane will not do. Owner's move: rebase onto `origin/main` and push, in his lane. Recorded rather than repaired.
+- **Not done, deliberately.** Nothing was merged (#78/#79 need authorization, and merging is a §4-class action for this lane), nothing was pushed to `timmy-talking-turd` `main` (the EOF fix belongs in that repo's own flow — a direct push is the very merge-by-push pattern this ledger flags), no counterparty was messaged (Vincent's route is dead on expired auth; Praetorian's jobs are `blocked_config`), and no another-party file was edited. Disk 36 G free of 154 G (78% used). No secret printed.