diff --git a/web/templates/search.html b/web/templates/search.html
index 75292dd..709fe6b 100644
--- a/web/templates/search.html
+++ b/web/templates/search.html
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@
     }
   });
 
-  /* ===============================
+    /* ===============================
      Illustration of the Day (client-only, deterministic)
      =============================== */
   (function illustrationOfTheDay(){
@@ -266,50 +266,47 @@
     const today = new Date();
     const ymd = today.getFullYear()*10000 + (today.getMonth()+1)*100 + today.getDate();
 
-    // Simple string hash -> 32-bit -> xorshift for decent spread
+    // 32‑bit xorshift PRNG for a good daily seed
     function xorshift32(seed){
       let x = seed | 0;
       x ^= x << 13; x ^= x >>> 17; x ^= x << 5;
       return (x >>> 0);
     }
-    function pickIndex(max, seed){
-      // (0..max-1)
-      return xorshift32(seed) % max;
+    const seed = xorshift32(ymd ^ 0x9E3779B9);
+
+    // We don’t know ID gaps, so try a deterministic pseudo‑random
+    // permutation over a *generous* range and stop at the first 200.
+    const maxGuess = Math.max(100, Math.floor(total * 4));  // cast a wide net
+    const maxAttempts = Math.min(600, maxGuess);            // cap network work
+
+    // Linear congruential generator style “index -> id” mapping (deterministic)
+    function idAt(i){
+      // multiplier is odd; modulus is implicit 2^32, then map to [1..maxGuess]
+      const v = (Math.imul(i + 1, 1103515245) + 12345 + seed) >>> 0;
+      return 1 + (v % maxGuess);
     }
 
-    // We don’t know if IDs are contiguous, so:
-    // 1) choose a *candidate* ID in [1..maxIdGuess]
-    // 2) try up to N nearby IDs until one 200s
-    // Best guess for max id is "total * 1.5" (cheap heuristic).
-    const maxIdGuess = Math.max(total, Math.floor(total * 1.5));
-    let candidate = 1 + pickIndex(maxIdGuess, ymd ^ 0x9E3779B9);
-
-    async function tryFetch(id){
+    async function fetchEntryHtml(id){
       const url = entryUrlFor(id);
       try{
-        const r = await fetch(url, { credentials:'same-origin' });
-        if (r.ok) {
-          const html = await r.text();
-          return { ok:true, id, html };
-        }
+        const r = await fetch(url, { credentials: 'same-origin' });
+        if (r.ok) return await r.text();
       }catch(_){}
-      return { ok:false };
+      return null;
     }
 
     function ensurePunct(str){
       const s = (str || '').trim();
       if (!s) return '';
-      // If ends with punctuation, keep; else add period.
       return /[.!?…]$/.test(s) ? s : (s + '.');
     }
 
     function extractSectionText(doc, label){
-      // Look for a section with a label like "Illustration" / "Application"
+      // Look for label “Illustration” / “Application” commonly used in your templates
       const labels = doc.querySelectorAll('.section-label, .meta-label, h3, h4, strong');
       for (const el of labels){
         const t = (el.textContent || '').trim().toLowerCase();
         if (t === label){
-          // usual structure: label inside a .section; body nearby
           const section = el.closest('.section') || el.parentElement;
           if (section){
             const body = section.querySelector('.lead-text') ||
@@ -319,7 +316,7 @@
           }
         }
       }
-      // Fallback: first .lead-text / .section-body on page if label search failed
+      // fallback
       const alt = doc.querySelector('.lead-text, .section-body');
       return alt ? (alt.textContent || '').trim() : '';
     }
@@ -328,22 +325,23 @@
       const dom = new DOMParser().parseFromString(html, 'text/html');
       const illustration = extractSectionText(dom, 'illustration');
       const application  = extractSectionText(dom, 'application');
-
       const merged = (ensurePunct(illustration) + (application ? '  ' + application : '')).trim();
 
       iotdTextEl.textContent = merged || 'Open to view today’s illustration.';
       iotdOpenEl.href = entryUrlFor(id);
+      iotdOpenEl.style.display = 'inline-block';
     }
 
     (async function findAndRender(){
-      // Try candidate, then probe up to +/- 10 around it
-      const offsets = [0,1,-1,2,-2,3,-3,4,-4,5,-5,6,-6,7,-7,8,-8,9,-9,10,-10];
-      for (const off of offsets){
-        const id = Math.max(1, candidate + off);
-        const res = await tryFetch(id);
-        if (res.ok) { renderIotd(id, res.html); return; }
+      for (let i = 0; i < maxAttempts; i++){
+        const id = idAt(i);
+        const html = await fetchEntryHtml(id);
+        if (html){
+          renderIotd(id, html);
+          return;
+        }
       }
-      // Give up—show a graceful fallback
+      // If nothing responded 200 within our attempts, fail gracefully
       iotdTextEl.textContent = 'Unable to load today’s illustration.';
       iotdOpenEl.style.display = 'none';
     })();