diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 02d4f00..e911c0d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ dependencies = [
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
-dev = ["pytest>=8.0", "ruff>=0.5", "mypy>=1.10"]
+dev = ["pytest>=8.0", "ruff>=0.5,<0.16", "mypy>=1.10"]
 
 [build-system]
 requires = ["hatchling"]
diff --git a/src/trinity/adapters/bbh.py b/src/trinity/adapters/bbh.py
index 0c6a0b7..9fd4b08 100644
--- a/src/trinity/adapters/bbh.py
+++ b/src/trinity/adapters/bbh.py
@@ -165,21 +165,43 @@ def _final_answer_segment(text: str) -> str:
 #: compared as a sequence, not treated as strippable formatting noise.
 _BRACKETS = frozenset("()[]{}<>")
 
+#: Whole-answer Markdown emphasis (``**True**``, ``*valid*``, ``__no__``). Same marker
+#: on both sides (backreference) so asymmetric ``*`` content is never peeled. Mirrors
+#: ``reward._strip_choice_md_emphasis`` used by BBH multiple-choice (#461).
+_MD_EMPHASIS_WRAP_RE = re.compile(r"(\*{1,3}|_{1,3}|`)(.+?)\1", re.DOTALL)
+
+
+def _strip_md_emphasis_wrap(s: str) -> str:
+    """Peel Markdown emphasis that wraps the entire stripped answer (fixpoint)."""
+    prev = None
+    while prev != s:
+        prev = s
+        m = _MD_EMPHASIS_WRAP_RE.fullmatch(s.strip())
+        if m:
+            s = m.group(2).strip()
+    return s
+
 
 def _normalize_exact(text: str) -> str:
     """Normalise a free-form answer for tolerant exact comparison.
 
-    Lower-cases, strips surrounding quotes/brackets/terminal punctuation, and collapses
-    internal whitespace — only formatting noise, never content. A **pure bracket sequence**
-    is the exception: the ``dyck_languages`` gold target is all closing brackets (e.g.
-    ``"] )"``), so it is compared whitespace-insensitively rather than stripped down to an
-    empty string — which made every dyck answer, correct or not, grade ``0.0``.
+    Lower-cases, strips surrounding quotes/brackets/terminal punctuation and Markdown
+    emphasis (``**True**`` == ``True``), and collapses internal whitespace — only
+    formatting noise, never content. A **pure bracket sequence** is the exception: the
+    ``dyck_languages`` gold target is all closing brackets (e.g. ``"] )"``), so it is
+    compared whitespace-insensitively rather than stripped down to an empty string —
+    which made every dyck answer, correct or not, grade ``0.0``.
     """
     s = str(text).strip().lower()
+    # Peel whole-answer emphasis BEFORE the bracket check so a bolded dyck answer
+    # still reaches the bracket-sequence comparison.
+    s = _strip_md_emphasis_wrap(s)
     compact = re.sub(r"\s+", "", s)
     if compact and all(ch in _BRACKETS for ch in compact):
         return compact
     s = s.strip(".\"'`()[]{} \t\n")
+    # Emphasis may sit inside terminal punctuation ("**true**."): strip then peel.
+    s = _strip_md_emphasis_wrap(s)
     s = re.sub(r"\s+", " ", s)
     return s
 
diff --git a/src/trinity/adapters/drop.py b/src/trinity/adapters/drop.py
index 1314803..07fcbd4 100644
--- a/src/trinity/adapters/drop.py
+++ b/src/trinity/adapters/drop.py
@@ -130,9 +130,12 @@ def _maybe_unbox(segment: str) -> str:
     return boxed if boxed is not None else ""
 
 
-#: Surrounding punctuation stripped from a token, EXCLUDING the signs ``+``/``-`` — a
-#: leading sign is part of a number's value, not wrapping noise.
-_STRIP_EDGE = "".join(c for c in string.punctuation if c not in "+-")
+#: Surrounding punctuation stripped from a token, EXCLUDING the signs ``+``/``-`` and
+#: the decimal point ``.`` — a leading sign or decimal point is part of a number's
+#: value, not wrapping noise. A genuinely-trailing ``.`` (sentence period) is handled
+#: by the dedicated rstrip retry in :func:`_normalize_token`, which can tell it apart
+#: from a value-bearing leading point; a blanket edge-strip cannot.
+_STRIP_EDGE = "".join(c for c in string.punctuation if c not in "+-.")
 
 
 def _normalize_token(raw: str) -> str:
@@ -147,20 +150,27 @@ def _normalize_token(raw: str) -> str:
     dropped the ``-`` and left commas to break ``float()``) did not deliver.
 
     A token that is ALREADY a number is recognised before any punctuation is
-    stripped: the edge-strip set includes ``.``, so a leading-decimal token like
-    ``".5"`` would otherwise lose its point and normalize to ``"5.0"`` — equal to
-    a gold ``"5"`` (false positive) and unequal to the value-identical gold
-    ``"0.5"`` (false negative). The official DROP ``_remove_punc`` tests
-    ``_is_number`` first and leaves numbers untouched for exactly this reason."""
+    stripped: a leading-decimal token like ``".5"`` must not lose its point and
+    normalize to ``"5.0"`` — equal to a gold ``"5"`` (false positive) and unequal
+    to the value-identical gold ``"0.5"`` (false negative). The official DROP
+    ``_remove_punc`` tests ``_is_number`` first and leaves numbers untouched for
+    exactly this reason (issue #423). The float-first path alone only covers the
+    *bare* token: with ``.`` in the edge-strip set, wrapped forms like ``"$.5"``
+    and ``".5."`` still lost the leading point on the second-chance path. So the
+    edge strip excludes ``.`` entirely, and a genuinely-trailing period (``".5."``,
+    ``"16.."``) is retried with an explicit ``rstrip(".")`` — right-side dots are
+    sentence punctuation, left-side dots are value."""
     try:
         return str(float(raw.replace(",", "")))
     except ValueError:
         pass
     core = raw.strip(_STRIP_EDGE)
-    try:
-        return str(float(core.replace(",", "")))
-    except ValueError:
-        return _PUNCT.sub("", raw)
+    for cand in (core, core.rstrip(".")):
+        try:
+            return str(float(cand.replace(",", "")))
+        except ValueError:
+            continue
+    return _PUNCT.sub("", raw)
 
 
 def _split_internal_hyphens(token: str) -> list[str]:
diff --git a/tests/test_bbh_md_emphasis.py b/tests/test_bbh_md_emphasis.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91fa509
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_bbh_md_emphasis.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+"""BBH exact-match must accept Markdown-emphasised answers (#461)."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from trinity.adapters.bbh import score_bbh
+
+
+def test_exact_match_accepts_markdown_bold() -> None:
+    ref = {"answer": "True", "answer_type": "exact_match", "subtask": "boolean_expressions"}
+    assert score_bbh("Answer: True", ref) == 1.0
+    assert score_bbh("Answer: **True**", ref) == 1.0
+    assert score_bbh("Answer: **valid**", {"answer": "valid", "answer_type": "exact_match"}) == 1.0