diff --git a/context/code/delivery.md b/context/code/delivery.md
index 8f8e10c8..a9330ba4 100644
--- a/context/code/delivery.md
+++ b/context/code/delivery.md
@@ -136,7 +136,10 @@ unordered, so a notice from an epoch other than `seen`'s cannot be placed. Readi
 cleared it. Now such a notice sets `stale` and nothing else, the next request is answered by the live
 host, and that answer (`apply_answer`) is what moves `seen`. Two cheaper guards stay: a notice from an
 older generation of the host the shape is on, or from an epoch it has left, is ignored without the extra
-round; and a duplicate answer clears a `restructured` mark it covers. A notice the client asked for
+round; and a duplicate answer clears a `restructured` mark it covers. The last is defensive: no test
+reaches it now that `seen` cannot be rewound, and it is kept because a covered answer that cannot clear a mark
+it covers is the shape of both livelocks. Merging notices cut for different shapes, or a cut one with an
+uncut one, is refused. A notice the client asked for
 (`poll`) skips the left-epoch test, since the host that answers is live.
 
 `poll` hands a pulled notice only to the shape it asked about, and the notice says so: `for_shape` sets
diff --git a/context/test-evidence/delivery.md b/context/test-evidence/delivery.md
index c8e7cf3d..13733493 100644
--- a/context/test-evidence/delivery.md
+++ b/context/test-evidence/delivery.md
@@ -202,8 +202,11 @@ swap's notice delivered three steps late, an old reply replayed). The client had
 the generation-1 notice arrived: `seen` was rewound into generation 1, a notice from the same history set
 `restructured`, and the window correction that answered was covered by the watermark, so it never cleared
 the mark and `poll` retried until `Exhausted`. The test replays the history step for step, with the
-property's own weather and a Flaky edge. Rival: the notice-ignore test in `accept` disabled; this test
-and the random property fail. The seed file is not committed (`proptest-regressions/` is ignored).
+property's own weather and a Flaky edge. Rival at the time: the notice-ignore test in `accept` disabled;
+this test and the random property failed. **Since the round-three change (a foreign notice only marks the
+shape stale) nothing fails with that shortcut disabled**: it is an optimisation that saves one round, not a
+correctness rule. The test still replays the seed. The seed file is not committed
+(`proptest-regressions/` is ignored).
 
 Run after the fix, the property passed 4 x 4000 cases and 2 x 20000 cases, with no third failure.
 
@@ -221,9 +224,15 @@ The same rewind, then an unsolicited covered correction: the duplicate branch se
 below a queued entry, and each fetch for that `through` came back a duplicate. Failed on the head before
 the change.
 
-### a_notice_from_another_epoch_marks_the_shape_stale_and_moves_nothing_else
+### a_foreign_notice_marks_the_shape_stale_and_the_home_hosts_answer_settles_it
 
-The new rule itself: a foreign notice sets `stale`; the home host's next notice is still contiguous.
+A foreign notice sets `stale`, and the home host's answer then settles the shape. It does not see `seen`
+stay put (an answer heals it either way); route A and route B are what pin that.
+
+### notices_cut_for_different_shapes_or_not_cut_do_not_merge
+
+A merge of notices cut for different shapes, or a cut one with an uncut one, would keep one shape's
+mark and make the other shape see a gap. `merge` refuses it. Rival: the `cut_for` comparison removed.
 
 ### a_pulled_notice_pushed_through_on_notice_still_reaches_only_its_shape
 
diff --git a/crates/improvise-protocol/src/delivery/notice.rs b/crates/improvise-protocol/src/delivery/notice.rs
index 2530f960..d56e824e 100644
--- a/crates/improvise-protocol/src/delivery/notice.rs
+++ b/crates/improvise-protocol/src/delivery/notice.rs
@@ -182,12 +182,11 @@ impl Notice {
     /// `self` followed by `next`, if `next` starts where `self` ends. Anything else
     /// has a gap or another epoch in it, and merging would hide a loss.
     pub fn merge(mut self, next: Notice) -> Result<Notice, Box<(Notice, Notice)>> {
-        let adjacent = self.range.end() == next.range.start();
+        let adjacent = self.range.end() == next.range.start() && self.cut_for == next.cut_for;
         match adjacent {
             false => Err(Box::new((self, next))),
             true => {
                 self.range.to = next.range.to;
-                self.cut_for = self.cut_for.take().or(next.cut_for);
                 self.axis.extend(next.axis);
                 self.relabels.extend(next.relabels);
                 self.flags = self.flags.union(next.flags);
@@ -275,6 +274,16 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(merged.moved.contains_key(&ShapeKey("b".into())));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn notices_cut_for_different_shapes_or_not_cut_do_not_merge() {
+        let (a, b) = (ShapeKey("a".into()), ShapeKey("b".into()));
+        let cut = |p: u64, s: &ShapeKey| notice(p, &[]).for_shape(s);
+        assert!(cut(1, &a).merge(cut(2, &a)).is_ok());
+        assert!(cut(1, &a).merge(cut(2, &b)).is_err());
+        assert!(cut(1, &a).merge(notice(2, &[])).is_err());
+        assert!(notice(1, &[]).merge(cut(2, &a)).is_err());
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn a_gap_does_not_merge() {
         let (a, b) = *notice(3, &[]).merge(notice(5, &[])).unwrap_err();
diff --git a/crates/improvise-protocol/src/delivery/review_tests.rs b/crates/improvise-protocol/src/delivery/review_tests.rs
index 1d32c299..e53dbe6a 100644
--- a/crates/improvise-protocol/src/delivery/review_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/improvise-protocol/src/delivery/review_tests.rs
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ fn route_b_a_covered_reply_cannot_set_seen_below_a_queued_entry() {
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn a_notice_from_another_epoch_marks_the_shape_stale_and_moves_nothing_else() {
+fn a_foreign_notice_marks_the_shape_stale_and_the_home_hosts_answer_settles_it() {
     let mut c = synced("s", at(1, 0, 4), &[cell(1, "a")]);
     c.on_notice(&Notice::empty(PubRange::one(at(2, 0, 9))));
     assert!(matches!(