diff --git a/docs/MATCHING_COOKBOOK.md b/docs/MATCHING_COOKBOOK.md
index cdc917e..2651393 100644
--- a/docs/MATCHING_COOKBOOK.md
+++ b/docs/MATCHING_COOKBOOK.md
@@ -1800,11 +1800,28 @@ signal is:
 Worker A scanned its 256 rows and got 11 first-instruction hits, of which **only `0x800C3490`**
 trips the real rule.
 
-**Implemented as `./tools/sf3_rank --fragments`, which scans any partition set.** Measured across
-all four partitions it finds **5 suspects**; measured against the **555 registered regions it flags
-2** (`0x800923E8`, `0x80099DC4`), so it is **advisory, not an exclusion** — sufficient-but-not-complete
-in exactly the way the trapping check is. **A hit means "read this before spending a spelling", never
-"skip it".**
+**Implemented as `./tools/sf3_rank --fragments`, which scans any partition set.**
+
+**WORKER B THEN ADJUDICATED ITS OWN HIT AND MADE THE CHECK DISJOINT.** The first version fired on
+any nonzero `sp` offset and flagged **2 of the 555 registered regions**. Worker B read `0x800B704C`
+before committing and showed it is a **legal frameless leaf with EIGHT arguments**: in o32 the
+callee's `sp` is unchanged at entry, so **`sp+16..sp+28` IS the caller's outgoing area — arguments
+4–7** — and reading it before any `addiu sp,sp,-N` is exactly what a frameless >4-argument leaf looks
+like. Its evidence: exactly one `jr ra`, zero `jal`, zero `addiu sp,sp,-N`, zero `sw ra`/`lw ra`
+across all 324 bytes, and no callee-saved register touched.
+
+**So the incoming argument area (`sp+0..sp+31`) is excluded**, and only a **negative** offset or an
+offset **beyond** the 8-argument area is a real fragment. With that qualification:
+
+| | before | after |
+|---|---|---|
+| registered regions flagged | 2 of 555 | **0 of 555** |
+| suspects across four partitions | 5 | **1** |
+
+**The check is now disjoint from the corpus** and the one remaining suspect is worker A's
+`0x800C3490`. This is the cleanest example in the phase of a *worker adjudicating a tool's output
+rather than obeying it* — B was told "advisory, do not skip", read the row anyway, and its
+adjudication is what turned a noisy heuristic into a precise one.**
 
 **The value is the reading phase, not the match:** a fragment costs a full structural derivation and
 can never close, so flagging it saves a worker's whole reading budget.
diff --git a/tools/sf3_rank b/tools/sf3_rank
index 8a6b4cc..5aeec03 100755
--- a/tools/sf3_rank
+++ b/tools/sf3_rank
@@ -90,10 +90,17 @@ def fragment_reason(insns: list[int]) -> str:
     0x800C3470. It is a shared/jump-target block Ghidra promoted to a function, so it is
     inside no region and nobody can match it standalone.
 
-    ADVISORY, NOT AN EXCLUSION: measured against the 555 registered regions this flags
-    **2** of them (`0x800923E8`, `0x80099DC4`, both "first insn touches sp+16"), so it is
-    sufficient-but-not-complete in exactly the way the trapping check is. Treat a hit as
-    "read this before spending a spelling", never as "skip".
+    QUALIFIED BY WORKER B, WHICH MADE IT DISJOINT. The first version fired on any nonzero
+    `sp` offset and flagged 2 of the 555 registered regions (`0x800923E8`, `0x80099DC4`).
+    Worker B adjudicated its own hit `0x800B704C` and showed it is a **legal frameless leaf
+    with eight arguments**: in o32 the callee's `sp` is unchanged at entry, so `sp+16..sp+28`
+    IS the caller's outgoing area -- arguments 4-7. Reading it before any `addiu sp,sp,-N` is
+    exactly what a frameless >4-argument leaf looks like.
+
+    So the incoming argument area (`sp+0..sp+31`) is excluded, and only a **negative** offset
+    (a frame slot below an unmoved `sp`) or an offset **beyond** the 8-argument area is a real
+    fragment. With that qualification the check is **disjoint from the corpus: 0 of 555
+    registered regions**, and the suspects across all four partitions drop from 5 to 1.
     """
     if not insns:
         return "empty"
@@ -104,7 +111,16 @@ def fragment_reason(insns: list[int]) -> str:
     immediate = word & 0xFFFF
     if opcode in (0x23, 0x2B, 0x0F, 0x20, 0x24, 0x25, 0x28, 0x29, 0x2C, 0x2D, 0x2E, 0x3F):
         if (rs == 29 or rt == 29) and immediate != 0:
-            return f"first instruction touches sp+{immediate}"
+            offset = immediate - 0x10000 if immediate >= 0x8000 else immediate
+            # In o32 the callee's `sp` is unchanged at entry, so the incoming argument
+            # area sits at sp+0..sp+28 (args 0-3 live in a0-a3 but their home slots are
+            # there; args 4-7 are passed at sp+16..sp+28). Worker B adjudicated
+            # 0x800B704C as a legal frameless leaf with EIGHT arguments whose first
+            # instruction is `lw t0,16(sp)` -- so reading that area at entry is legal
+            # and must not fire. Only a NEGATIVE offset (a frame slot below an unmoved
+            # sp) or an offset beyond the 8-argument incoming area is a real fragment.
+            if offset < 0 or offset >= 32:
+                return f"first instruction touches sp{offset:+d} (outside the incoming arg area)"
     used = {rs, rt}
     if opcode == 0:
         used.add((word >> 11) & 0x1F)