diff --git a/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/render.clj b/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/render.clj
index 0619019..b989bc2 100644
--- a/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/render.clj
+++ b/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/render.clj
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@
             [net.deertopia.doerg.html :as doerg-html]
             [hiccup2.core :as hiccup]
             [clojure.pprint]
-            #_
+            ;; #_
             [net.deertopia.doerg.tex :as tex]
-            [net.deertopia.doerg.tex.native :as tex-native]
-            [net.deertopia.doerg.tex.temml :as tex-temml]
+            ;; [net.deertopia.doerg.tex.native :as tex-native]
+            ;; [net.deertopia.doerg.tex.temml :as tex-temml]
             [clojure.zip :as z]
             [babashka.fs :as fs]))
 
@@ -143,72 +143,28 @@
          #(element/of-keyword-type? % "LATEX_HEADER")
          (sp/view :value)])))
 
-(defn- read-and-patch-generated-svg [{:keys [file height depth]}]
-  ;; dvisvgm writes standalone SVG files, to which we need to make a
-  ;; few changes to use them inline within our HTML.
-  ;;   • XML header: Bad syntax when embedded in an HTML doc. Remove
-  ;;     it.
-  ;;   • Width and height: We override these with our own values
-  ;;     computed by `net.deertopia.doerg.tex` to ensure correct
-  ;;     positioning relative to the surrounding text. More
-  ;;     accurately, we remove the height and width attributes from
-  ;;     the SVG tag, and set the new values for height and
-  ;;     vertical-align in the style attribute
-  ;;   • Viewbox: Must be removed entirely for correct positioning.
-  (-> (slurp file)
-      (str/replace-first #"<\?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'\?>\n?" "")
-      (str/replace-first #" height=['\"][^\"']+[\"']" "")
-      (str/replace-first #" width=['\"][^\"']+[\"']" "")
-      (str/replace-first
-       #"viewBox=['\"][^\"']+[\"']"
-       (fn [s]
-         (format "%s style=\"%s\""
-                 s
-                 (format "height:%.4fem;vertical-align:%.4fem;display:inline-block"
-                         height (- depth)))))))
-
 (defn render-tex-snippets
   "Traverse doc, adorning each LaTeX node with a promise resolving to,
   optimistically, Hiccup-rendered SVG or MathML code."
   [doc]
-  (let [promises (atom [])
+  (let [snippet-promises (atom [])
         r (->> doc (sp/transform
                     [element/postorder-walker
                      #(element/of-type?
                        % "latex-fragment" "latex-environment")]
                     (fn [node]
                       (let [p (promise)]
-                        (swap! promises #(conj % {:promise p :node node}))
+                        (swap! snippet-promises #(conj % [(:value node) p]))
                         (assoc node ::rendered p)))))
-        f (fn []
-            (fs/with-temp-dir [svg-dir {:prefix "doerg-svg"}]
-              (let [rendered-snippets
-                    (delay (->> @promises
-                                (map #(-> % :node :value))
-                                (apply tex-native/render svg-dir)))]
-                (doseq [{:keys [promise node]} @promises]
-                  (try (let [{:keys [value]} node
-                             temml (tex-temml/render value)]
-                         (if (tex-temml/erroneous-output? temml)
-                           (let [tex (get @rendered-snippets value)]
-                             (if (:errors tex)
-                               (deliver promise (hiccup/raw temml))
-                               (->> tex
-                                    read-and-patch-generated-svg
-                                    hiccup/raw
-                                    (deliver promise))))
-                           (deliver promise (hiccup/raw temml))))
-                       (catch Exception e
-                         (lr/error e)
-                         (throw e)))))))
-        fut (future-call (bound-fn* f))]
+        fut (-> #(tex/render-snippets @snippet-promises)
+                bound-fn* future-call)]
     ;; Time out after eight seconds. With all the LaTeX and IPC, there
     ;; are so many opportunities for things to go wrong </3.
     (let [fut-res (deref fut (* 10 1000) ::timed-out)]
       (if (= fut-res ::timed-out)
         (do (future-cancel fut)
-            (doseq [{:keys [promise]} @promises]
-              (deliver promise ::timed-out)))
+            (doseq [[_snippet p] @snippet-promises]
+              (deliver p ::timed-out)))
         fut-res))
     r))
 
diff --git a/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/tex.clj b/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/tex.clj
index 59c9e0c..b4d8da7 100644
--- a/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/tex.clj
+++ b/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/tex.clj
@@ -1,4 +1,60 @@
 (ns net.deertopia.doerg.tex
   (:require [net.deertopia.doerg.tex.native :as native]
             [net.deertopia.doerg.tex.temml :as temml]
-            [babashka.fs :as fs]))
+            [babashka.fs :as fs]
+            [clojure.string :as str]
+            [hiccup2.core :as hiccup]
+            [clojure.tools.logging :as l]))
+
+(defn- read-and-patch-generated-svg [{:keys [file height depth]}]
+  ;; dvisvgm writes standalone SVG files, to which we need to make a
+  ;; few changes to use them inline within our HTML.
+  ;;   • XML header: Bad syntax when embedded in an HTML doc. Remove
+  ;;     it.
+  ;;   • Width and height: We override these with our own values
+  ;;     computed by `net.deertopia.doerg.tex` to ensure correct
+  ;;     positioning relative to the surrounding text. More
+  ;;     accurately, we remove the height and width attributes from
+  ;;     the SVG tag, and set the new values for height and
+  ;;     vertical-align in the style attribute
+  ;;   • Viewbox: Must be removed entirely for correct positioning.
+  (-> (slurp file)
+      (str/replace-first #"<\?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'\?>\n?" "")
+      (str/replace-first #" height=['\"][^\"']+[\"']" "")
+      (str/replace-first #" width=['\"][^\"']+[\"']" "")
+      (str/replace-first
+       #"viewBox=['\"][^\"']+[\"']"
+       (fn [s]
+         (format "%s style=\"%s\""
+                 s
+                 (format "height:%.4fem;vertical-align:%.4fem;display:inline-block"
+                         height (- depth)))))))
+
+(defn render-snippets [snippet-promises]
+  (fs/with-temp-dir [svg-dir {:prefix "doerg-svg-"}]
+    (let [rendered-snippets
+          (delay (->> snippet-promises
+                      (map first)
+                      (apply native/render svg-dir)))]
+      (doseq [[snippet p] snippet-promises]
+        (try (let [temml (temml/render snippet)]
+               (if (temml/erroneous-output? temml)
+                 (let [tex (get @rendered-snippets snippet)]
+                   (if (:errors tex)
+                     (deliver p (hiccup/raw temml))
+                     (->> tex
+                          read-and-patch-generated-svg
+                          hiccup/raw
+                          (deliver p))))
+                 (deliver p (hiccup/raw temml))))
+             (catch Exception e
+               (l/error e "Error in TeX thread")
+               (throw e)))))))
+
+(comment
+  (let [snippets (for [x ["\\(\\ifxetex blah \\fi\\)"
+                          "\\(\\sqrt{x^2 + y^2}\\)"]]
+                   [x (promise)])]
+    (temml/binding-worker
+      (render-snippets snippets)
+      (map #(-> % second deref) snippets))))
diff --git a/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/tex/temml.clj b/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/tex/temml.clj
index 18aacdf..9beefa0 100644
--- a/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/tex/temml.clj
+++ b/doerg/src/net/deertopia/doerg/tex/temml.clj
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@
       (render-display s)
       (if-let [[_ inner] (re-matches #"(?s)\\\((.*)\\\)" s)]
         (render-inline inner)
-        (throw (ex-info "weird" {:snippet s}))))))
+        (throw (IllegalArgumentException.
+                (str "`net.deertopia.doerg.tex.temml` argument should"
+                     " be enclosed in math delimiters.")))))))
 
 ;; hackky....
 (defn erroneous-output? [s]