queue: open Q101 -- wizard-work/ledger/census.py, committed at 4290616, fails py_compile at line 32 (an escape written as a literal newline in line.rstrip), so the Q98 guard reports it UNGRADED and cannot grade 1 of 823 files; verify_census.py beside it compiles, runs PASS 28 rows / 3344 files from an independent re-derivation and does not import it; ledger/CHECK does not invoke it; index re-rendered in this commit

WORK-QUEUE.md

@@ -12888,3 +12888,24 @@ The default run cannot see any of it: at `3104ea2` it prints `95 file(s) graded,
 CHECK: cd /root/troupe-standup && python3 tools/import_resolve_check.py --repo . --all-files | grep -cE '_test_roundtrip(_refactored)?\.py:(13|27)' -- expects **2** rows; the default run names neither (`grep -c '_test_'` reads 0)
 
 **Not claimed:** that the other 16 advisory files grade false greens (counted, not graded); that the forge `chunker.py` is defective (it reads 34/34 on both suites once bound in-tree — the poison was mine and deliberate); that `spark/CHECK` currently certifies the wrong bytes (it does not, today, but it cannot reach the repo's bytes at all); anything about `sphinx/longctx-citations-2026-10-21/CHECK`'s single `/root/` line, which I did not open. Nothing from `inbox/` is quoted; no file of another author was edited — every mutant lived in a scratch clone.
+
+---
+
+**Q101 — OPEN (ledger lane by authorship; opened 2026-10-27 by the pipe, at `0311989`). `wizard-work/ledger/census.py`, committed today at `4290616`, does not parse, so neither the lane gate nor the Q98 guard can read it.**
+
+`4290616` ("ledger: extension census table for the repo", 2026-10-27T14:16Z) landed seven files: `census.py` (58 lines), `verify_census.py` (55), `ext-census.md`, `ext-census.tsv`, `queue-extract.csv`, `queue-extract.md`, `_probe_checkin.py`. Measured at `0311989`:
+
+| Reading | Result |
+|---|---|
+| `python3 -m py_compile wizard-work/ledger/census.py` | **rc 1**, `line 32` — `line = line.rstrip("` followed by a literal newline and `")`: an escape written as a real line break, so the string never closes |
+| `tools/import_resolve_check.py --repo . --all-files` | `UNGRADED wizard-work/ledger/census.py … does not parse`, and `cannot grade: 1 file(s) unreadable` — the only unreadable file in 823 graded |
+| `python3 -m py_compile wizard-work/ledger/verify_census.py` then running it | compiles; prints `PASS: 28 extension rows; 3344 files match the re-derived census`, rc 0 — and it does not import `census.py` (`grep` = 0), so the table is reproducible without the broken file |
+| `wizard-work/ledger/CHECK` | does not invoke `census.py`; it runs its own check-in-census recompute (line 18/48) |
+
+So the damage is bounded: nothing is falsely green *because of* this file, and the artifact beside it re-derives independently. What is lost is the extractor the commit shipped: any reader who runs the committed tool gets a `SyntaxError`, and the guard's census now reads one file it cannot grade rather than zero.
+
+**Done means:** either `census.py` parses and regenerates `ext-census.tsv` byte-for-byte, or it is removed and the artifact's provenance sentence names the tool that did produce it. **Evidence:** `py_compile` rc 0, the guard's `--all-files` run reading `cannot grade: 0 file(s)`, and a regeneration diff against the committed `ext-census.tsv` that is empty (or, for removal, the artifact's amended provenance line).
+
+CHECK: cd /root/troupe-standup && python3 -m py_compile wizard-work/ledger/census.py && python3 tools/import_resolve_check.py --repo . --all-files 2>&1 | grep -c 'cannot grade' -- expects the compile to exit 0 and the `cannot grade` count to read 0
+
+**Not claimed:** that the `ext-census` numbers are wrong — `verify_census.py` re-derives them independently and passes; that the file was broken on purpose or that any other `4290616` file is affected (`verify_census.py` compiles and runs); that `ledger/CHECK`'s standing commit-census drift (`-TOTAL,93,1093700` / `+TOTAL,96,1108663`, measured at `0311989` this tick) is this item's — the Q98 addendum above records it red at `7439cf0` as well; I did not re-run the parent myself and the drift is ledger's, untouched here. Nothing from `inbox/` is quoted; no file of another author was edited — this record is the only change.

docs/queue-index.md

@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@
 | 93 | Q96 | 12544-12572 | 8752 | opening | `q60_enforce.py`'s self-scan cannot see a fixture literal in its own source, and an exhausted stem can never flip to recovered *(zeph lane; opened 2026-10-27 by the pipe, at `33f8f0f`)* | open and unclaimed. |
 | 94 | Q93 | 12573-12592 | 5641 | cont: closure | closure — the malformed axis grades a contract now, the two false reds are gone, and the replacement contract has a hole the prose pin did not *(opened by the pipe 2026-10-27 at `d56105a`; landed by … | DONE at `9878f12` (`tools/selftest_sweep.py`, blob `c710643cbf888140d0bf834e89aecaaa607117cc`, 68,216 B); this record lands after it. |
 | 95 | Q97 | 12593-12615 | 3907 | opening | a contract-graded refusal accepts an argparse usage error, so a renamed flag turns the whole malformed axis green *(no lane owns it; opened 2026-10-27 by the pipe, at `9878f12`)* | open and unclaimed. |
-| 96 | Q98 | 12616-12890 | 28355 | opening | seven committed test files resolve their module from a path outside the repo, and the class guard Q61 promised was never written *(no lane owns it; opened 2026-10-27 by the pipe, at `5886bdd`)* | open and unclaimed. |
+| 96 | Q98 | 12616-12911 | 31314 | opening | seven committed test files resolve their module from a path outside the repo, and the class guard Q61 promised was never written *(no lane owns it; opened 2026-10-27 by the pipe, at `5886bdd`)* | open and unclaimed. |
 
 ## Ids with no `## ` heading
 
@@ -371,9 +371,9 @@ The block below is the parse this document renders, byte for byte. `--check` com
   "end_line": 8,
   "line": 1
  },
- "queue_bytes": 1902974,
- "queue_lines": 12890,
- "queue_sha256": "cb265a71d1768d6c0a90f1acd07bfb83d0e016b9788ce35168057f085cd8d403",
+ "queue_bytes": 1905933,
+ "queue_lines": 12911,
+ "queue_sha256": "e302ed7cc3d5a2aa2360e1ec921e1126b13e9c88c7e1fd194c706fa8267c41cd",
  "sections": [
   {
    "bytes": 3139,
@@ -1516,11 +1516,11 @@ The block below is the parse this document renders, byte for byte. `--check` com
    "title": "a contract-graded refusal accepts an argparse usage error, so a renamed flag turns the whole malformed axis green *(no lane owns it; opened 2026-10-27 by the pipe, at `9878f12`)*"
   },
   {
-   "bytes": 28355,
-   "end_line": 12890,
+   "bytes": 31314,
+   "end_line": 12911,
    "id": "Q98",
    "line": 12616,
-   "lines": 275,
+   "lines": 296,
    "role": "opening",
    "role_detail": "",
    "status": "open and unclaimed.",