diff --git a/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/EdgeIndexService.java b/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/EdgeIndexService.java
index 3fa3625b..81d57139 100644
--- a/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/EdgeIndexService.java
+++ b/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/EdgeIndexService.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ import static spark.Spark.get;
 import static spark.Spark.halt;
 
 public class EdgeIndexService extends Service {
-    private static final int SEARCH_BUDGET_LIMIT = 1_000_000;
+    private static final int SEARCH_BUDGET_TIMEOUT_MS = 100;
 
     private final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass());
 
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ public class EdgeIndexService extends Service {
                 new DomainResultCountFilter(specsSet.limitByDomain)
         };
 
-        final IndexSearchBudget budget = new IndexSearchBudget(SEARCH_BUDGET_LIMIT);
+        final IndexSearchBudget budget = new IndexSearchBudget(SEARCH_BUDGET_TIMEOUT_MS);
         final TIntIntHashMap limitsPerBucketRemaining = new TIntIntHashMap(6, 0.7f, 0, specsSet.limitByBucket);
 
         for (int i = 0; i < specsSet.buckets.size(); i+=2) {
@@ -279,10 +279,6 @@ public class EdgeIndexService extends Service {
             }
         }
 
-        if (budget.used() > 0) {
-            logger.debug("Query used ${}", budget.used());
-        }
-
         return results;
     }
 
@@ -294,7 +290,7 @@ public class EdgeIndexService extends Service {
 
         final DomainResultCountFilter domainCountFilter = new DomainResultCountFilter(specsSet.limitByDomain);
 
-        IndexSearchBudget budget = new IndexSearchBudget(SEARCH_BUDGET_LIMIT);
+        IndexSearchBudget budget = new IndexSearchBudget(SEARCH_BUDGET_TIMEOUT_MS);
         for (var sq : specsSet.subqueries) {
             Optional<EdgeIndexSearchTerms> searchTerms = getSearchTerms(sq);
 
@@ -316,10 +312,6 @@ public class EdgeIndexService extends Service {
             }
         }
 
-        if (budget.used() > 0) {
-            logger.debug("Query used ${}", budget.used());
-        }
-
         return results;
     }
 
diff --git a/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/index/SearchIndexReader.java b/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/index/SearchIndexReader.java
index df269034..7baeb8ae 100644
--- a/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/index/SearchIndexReader.java
+++ b/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/index/SearchIndexReader.java
@@ -74,7 +74,9 @@ public class SearchIndexReader implements AutoCloseable {
             IndexSearchBudget budget,
             LongPredicate filter,
             int wordId) {
+
         var builder = underspecifiedQueryBuilders.get(block);
+
         if (null != builder) {
             return builder.buildUnderspecified(budget, filter, wordId);
         }
diff --git a/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/query/IndexQueryBuilder.java b/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/query/IndexQueryBuilder.java
index de3f1435..be217057 100644
--- a/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/query/IndexQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/query/IndexQueryBuilder.java
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ public class IndexQueryBuilder {
         return new QueryForIndices(budget, filter, wordId);
     }
 
+    // Special treatment for queries with few terms, prefer hits that appear in multiple buckets
     public Query buildUnderspecified(IndexSearchBudget budget, LongPredicate filter, int wordId) {
+
         if (requiredIndices.size() == 1) {
             return build(budget, filter, wordId);
         }
@@ -51,7 +53,7 @@ public class IndexQueryBuilder {
 
         return new QueryForIndices(budget, () ->
             Streams.concat(IntStream.range(1, relevantIndices.length)
-                            .mapToObj(i -> underspecifiedPairStream(budget, (int) budget.limit()/(relevantIndices.length*2), relevantIndices[0], relevantIndices[i], wordId))
+                            .mapToObj(i -> underspecifiedPairStream(budget, 1000, relevantIndices[0], relevantIndices[i], wordId))
                             .flatMapToLong(Function.identity()),
                     fstRange.stream().takeWhile(budget::take))
                 .filter(filter)
@@ -59,17 +61,20 @@ public class IndexQueryBuilder {
     }
 
     private LongStream underspecifiedPairStream(IndexSearchBudget budget, int limit, int firstIdx, int otherIdx, int wordId) {
-        SearchIndex first = requiredIndices.get(firstIdx),
-                second = requiredIndices.get(otherIdx);
+        SearchIndex firstTmp = requiredIndices.get(firstIdx),
+                    secondTmp = requiredIndices.get(otherIdx);
 
-        if (first.numUrls(wordId) > second.numUrls(wordId)) {
-            SearchIndex tmp = first;
-            first = second;
-            second = tmp;
+        final SearchIndex fst;
+        final SearchIndex snd;
+
+        if (firstTmp.numUrls(wordId) > secondTmp.numUrls(wordId)) {
+            fst = secondTmp;
+            snd = firstTmp;
+        }
+        else {
+            fst = firstTmp;
+            snd = secondTmp;
         }
-
-        SearchIndex fst = first;
-        SearchIndex snd = second;
 
         var sndRange = snd.rangeForWord(wordId);
 
diff --git a/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/query/IndexSearchBudget.java b/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/query/IndexSearchBudget.java
index e84af8fe..2ec30e65 100644
--- a/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/query/IndexSearchBudget.java
+++ b/marginalia_nu/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/query/IndexSearchBudget.java
@@ -1,18 +1,16 @@
 package nu.marginalia.wmsa.edge.index.service.query;
 
-import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
 
-@RequiredArgsConstructor
 public class IndexSearchBudget {
-    private final long limit;
-    private long used = 0;
+    private long timeout;
 
+    public IndexSearchBudget(long limitTime) {
+        this.timeout = System.currentTimeMillis() + limitTime;
+    }
+
+    // Used for short-circuiting Stream-objects using takeWhile, we don't care
     public boolean take(long unused) {
-        return used++ < limit;
+        return System.currentTimeMillis() < timeout;
     }
 
-    public long used() {
-        return used;
-    }
-    public long limit() { return limit; }
 }
diff --git a/marginalia_nu/src/test/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/SearchIndexWriterTest.java b/marginalia_nu/src/test/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/SearchIndexWriterTest.java
index f9cd8a6a..5f1d2a0f 100644
--- a/marginalia_nu/src/test/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/SearchIndexWriterTest.java
+++ b/marginalia_nu/src/test/java/nu/marginalia/wmsa/edge/index/service/SearchIndexWriterTest.java
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class SearchIndexWriterTest {
     }
 
     public long[] findWord(SearchIndexReader reader, String word, IndexBlock block) {
-        IndexSearchBudget budget = new IndexSearchBudget(1_000_000);
+        IndexSearchBudget budget = new IndexSearchBudget(100);
         return reader.findWord(block, budget, lv->true, dictionaryWriter.getReadOnly(word)).stream().toArray();
     }