Consider the following result (which is Lemma 2.8 in Mitchell and Steel's paper on Fine Structure and Iteration Trees):
Lemma 2.8 Let $\pi \colon \mathcal{H} \to \mathcal{M}$ be generalized $r \Sigma_{k}$ elementary, where $\mathcal M$ is a ppm (not of type III) and $1 \leq k < \omega$. Suppose that $\rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}} \subseteq \mathcal{H}$ and $\pi \restriction \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}} = \operatorname{id}$. Suppose also that $\pi(r)$ is the $k$th standard parameter of $(\mathcal{M}, \pi(q))$ and that $\pi(r)$ is $k$-solid and $k$-universal over $(\mathcal{M}, \pi(q))$. Then
- $\rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}} = \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}}$,
- $r$ is the $k$th standard parameter of $(\mathcal{H},q)$ and
- $r$ is $k$-universal over $(\mathcal{H}, q)$.
The proofs of items $1.$ and $2.$ are included in this paper and in both cases it seems that the $k$-solidity of $\pi(r)$ over $(\mathcal{M}, \pi(q))$ isn't actually needed. Hence I decided to prove item $3.$ to see how $k$-solidity comes into play. However, if my argument is correct, it doesn't rely on $k$-solidity either.
Here is my proof of item $3.$:
Proof (of $3.$). Let $A \in \mathcal{H}$ be such that $A \subseteq \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}}$. Then $\pi(A) \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}} \in \mathcal M$. By the $k$-universality of $\pi(r)$ over $(\mathcal{M}, \pi(q))$ there is hence some generalized Skolem term $\tau \in S_{\kappa}$ and some $\vec{\alpha} \in ^{< \omega} \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}}$ s.t. $$ \pi(A) \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}} = \tau^{\mathcal{M}}[\vec{\alpha}, \pi(r), \pi(q)] \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}}. $$ Let $B := \tau^{\mathcal{H}}[\vec{\alpha},r,q] \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}}$. Combining the fact that $\pi$ is generalized $r \Sigma_{k}$-elementary, $\rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}}= \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}} \subseteq \mathcal{H}$ and $\pi \restriction \rho_{k}^{\mathcal M} = \operatorname{id}$ we have that \begin{align*} \mathcal{H} \models A \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}} = B &\iff \mathcal{H} \models A \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}} = \tau^{\mathcal H}[\vec{\alpha}, r,q] \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}} \\ &\iff \mathcal{M} \models \pi(A) \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}} = \tau^{\mathcal{M}}[\vec{\alpha},\pi(r),\pi(q)] \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{M}}. \end{align*} Since the last line is true, it follows that $A \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}} =\tau^{\mathcal{H}}[\vec{\alpha},r,q] \cap \rho_{k}^{\mathcal{H}}$. Thus $r$ is indeed $k$-universal over $(\mathcal{H}, q)$. Q.E.D.
Question: Did I miss something and this result actually relies on the $k$-solidity of $\pi(r)$ over $(\mathcal{M},\pi(q))$ or can this assumption be dropped?
If $k$-solidity is needed, I'd like to understand where exactly in the proof it is used and ideally I'd like to see an example in which Lemma 2.8 fails without $k$-solidity.
PS: I am aware that this question isn't exactly 'ongoing research' and I strongly considered posting it over at MSE. However, since the group of people able to answer this question is more likely to be encountered here and since a somewhat similar question has been asked and well-received here, I decided to go with mathoverflow.