diff --git a/lang/interfaces/unification.go b/lang/interfaces/unification.go
index b514c643..43d10ab3 100644
--- a/lang/interfaces/unification.go
+++ b/lang/interfaces/unification.go
@@ -641,7 +641,18 @@ func (obj *EqualityWrapCallInvariant) Possible(partials []Invariant) error {
 // add-in partial progress, you could have it generate a list of invariants and
 // include a new generator invariant in this list. Be sure to only do this if
 // you are making progress on each invocation, and make sure to avoid infinite
-// looping which isn't something we can currently detect or prevent.
+// looping which isn't something we can currently detect or prevent. One special
+// bit about generators and returning a partial: you must always return the
+// minimum set of expressions that need to be solved in the first Unify() call
+// that also returns the very first generator. This is because you must not rely
+// on the generator to tell the solver about new expressions that it *also*
+// wants solved. This is because after the initial (pre-generator-running)
+// collection of the invariants, we need to be able to build a list of all the
+// expressions that need to be solved for us to consider the problem "done". If
+// a new expression only appeared after we ran a generator, then this would
+// require our solver be far more complicated than it needs to be and currently
+// is. Besides, there's no reason (that I know of at the moment) that needs this
+// sort of invariant that only appears after the solver is running.
 //
 // NOTE: We might *consider* an optimization where we return a different kind of
 // error that represents a response of "impossible". This would mean that there
diff --git a/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc2/printfsimple0.output b/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc2/printfsimple0.output
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b7747cff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc2/printfsimple0.output
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Vertex: test[the answer is 42]
diff --git a/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc2/printfsimple0/main.mcl b/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc2/printfsimple0/main.mcl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1f3d6a98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lang/interpret_test/TestAstFunc2/printfsimple0/main.mcl
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import "fmt"
+
+$out = 42
+
+test fmt.printf("the answer is %d", $out) {}
diff --git a/lang/unification/simplesolver.go b/lang/unification/simplesolver.go
index 3cfed028..9a291b84 100644
--- a/lang/unification/simplesolver.go
+++ b/lang/unification/simplesolver.go
@@ -741,7 +741,28 @@ Loop:
 					}
 					used = append(used, i) // mark equality as used up
 				}
-				logf("%s: got %d equalities left after %d used up", Name, len(equalities)-len(used), len(used))
+				logf("%s: got %d equalities left after %d value invariants used up", Name, len(equalities)-len(used), len(used))
+				// delete used equalities, in reverse order to preserve indexing!
+				for i := len(used) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+					ix := used[i] // delete index that was marked as used!
+					equalities = append(equalities[:ix], equalities[ix+1:]...)
+				}
+
+				if len(used) > 0 {
+					continue Loop
+				}
+			}
+
+			if len(exclusives) == 0 && isSolved { // old generators
+				used := []int{}
+				for i, x := range equalities {
+					_, ok := x.(*interfaces.GeneratorInvariant)
+					if !ok {
+						continue
+					}
+					used = append(used, i) // mark equality as used up
+				}
+				logf("%s: got %d equalities left after %d generators used up", Name, len(equalities)-len(used), len(used))
 				// delete used equalities, in reverse order to preserve indexing!
 				for i := len(used) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
 					ix := used[i] // delete index that was marked as used!
@@ -861,10 +882,11 @@ Loop:
 
 			// TODO: print ambiguity
 			logf("%s: ================ ambiguity ================", Name)
+			unsolved, isSolved := isSolvedFn(solved)
+			logf("%s: isSolved: %+v", Name, isSolved)
 			for _, x := range equalities {
 				logf("%s: unsolved equality: %+v", Name, x)
 			}
-			unsolved, _ := isSolvedFn(solved)
 			for x := range unsolved {
 				logf("%s: unsolved expected: %+v", Name, x)
 			}