diff --git a/app/services/search_service.ts b/app/services/search_service.ts
index 2df138b..598a005 100644
--- a/app/services/search_service.ts
+++ b/app/services/search_service.ts
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@ export interface ReleaseSummary {
   innerName: string | null
 }
 
-/** Posters a poster search looks in at most (a short fragment matches thousands of random ones). */
-const MAX_POSTERS = 1000
+/** Posters a poster search looks in at most: a short fragment matches thousands of random ones (1,000 took 9.9 s, 200 0.2 s; LOG.md 2026-10-16 (70)). */
+const MAX_POSTERS = 200
 const SORTS: Record<SortOrder, string> = {
   newest: 'r.posted_at DESC NULLS LAST, r.id DESC',
   oldest: 'r.posted_at ASC NULLS LAST, r.id ASC',
@@ -103,12 +103,13 @@ class SearchService {
       where.push('r.source = ?')
       bindings.push(params.source)
     }
+    // A poster search: the matching posters first (posters, by trigram), each one's releases then by
+    // releases_poster_newest_idx (below). "poster ILIKE" on releases walked all 50M rows newest first: 30+ min for a
+    // poster with few releases; as a filter on the posters found the planner still walked them (LOG.md 2026-10-16 (70)).
+    let posters: string[] | null = null
     if (params.poster) {
-      // The matching posters first (posters, by trigram), then their releases by releases_poster_newest_idx: "poster ILIKE"
-      // on releases walked all 50M rows newest first, 30+ min for a poster with few releases (LOG.md 2026-10-16 (70)).
-      // By the first 200 characters, as posters and the index keep them (a btree entry holds at most 2,704 bytes).
-      where.push(`left(r.poster, 200) = ANY(ARRAY(SELECT p.poster FROM posters p WHERE p.poster ILIKE ? LIMIT ${MAX_POSTERS}))`)
-      bindings.push(contains(params.poster))
+      const { rows: matched } = await db.rawQuery(`SELECT poster FROM posters WHERE poster ILIKE ? LIMIT ${MAX_POSTERS}`, [contains(params.poster)])
+      posters = matched.map((m: { poster: string }) => m.poster)
     }
     if (params.categories?.length) {
       where.push('r.category = ANY(?)')
@@ -139,14 +140,34 @@ class SearchService {
     const order = SORTS[params.sort ?? 'newest'] ?? SORTS.newest
     const whereSql = where.join(' AND ')
     const countLimit = offset + (params.countLimit ?? COUNT_LIMIT)
+    if (posters !== null && posters.length === 0) return { page, perPage, offset, total: 0, totalCapped: false, releases: [] as ReleaseSummary[] }
+    // Per poster found (by first 200 characters, as posters and the index keep them; a btree entry holds at most 2,704
+    // bytes): its releases matching everything else, the first offset + perPage in the order asked; then merged.
+    const source =
+      posters === null
+        ? { from: 'releases r', where: whereSql, bindings: [] as unknown[] }
+        : {
+            from: `unnest(?::text[]) AS p(poster) CROSS JOIN LATERAL (
+                     SELECT r.* FROM releases r WHERE left(r.poster, 200) = p.poster AND ${whereSql} ORDER BY ${order} LIMIT ${offset + perPage}) r`,
+            where: 'true',
+            bindings: [posters] as unknown[],
+          }
+    const counting =
+      posters === null
+        ? db.rawQuery(`SELECT count(*) AS total FROM (SELECT 1 FROM releases r WHERE ${whereSql} LIMIT ${countLimit + 1}) x`, bindings)
+        : db.rawQuery(
+            `SELECT count(*) AS total FROM (SELECT 1 FROM unnest(?::text[]) AS p(poster) CROSS JOIN LATERAL (
+               SELECT 1 FROM releases r WHERE left(r.poster, 200) = p.poster AND ${whereSql} LIMIT ${countLimit + 1}) x LIMIT ${countLimit + 1}) y`,
+            [posters, ...bindings]
+          )
     const [{ rows }, { rows: counted }] = await Promise.all([
       db.rawQuery(
         `SELECT r.id, r.name, r.source, r.poster, r.groups, r.posted_at, r.file_total, r.files, r.bytes, r.readable, r.complete, r.category, r.settled_at, r.passworded, r.inner_name,
                 release_final(r.group_id, r.first_article, r.last_article, r.posted_at, r.last_posted_at, r.complete) AS final
-         FROM releases r WHERE ${whereSql} ORDER BY ${order} LIMIT ? OFFSET ?`,
-        [...bindings, perPage, offset]
+         FROM ${source.from} WHERE ${source.where} ORDER BY ${order} LIMIT ? OFFSET ?`,
+        [...source.bindings, ...bindings, perPage, offset]
       ),
-      db.rawQuery(`SELECT count(*) AS total FROM (SELECT 1 FROM releases r WHERE ${whereSql} LIMIT ${countLimit + 1}) x`, bindings),
+      counting,
     ])
     return {
       page,
diff --git a/tests/functional/poster_search.spec.ts b/tests/functional/poster_search.spec.ts
index 1a6f227..6d261b3 100644
--- a/tests/functional/poster_search.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/functional/poster_search.spec.ts
@@ -24,14 +24,21 @@ test.group('Poster search', (group) => {
       { 'subject': `[1/1] - "${name}" yEnc (1/1)`, 'from': from, 'date': 'Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000', 'message-id': `<ps${n}@x>`, ':bytes': '1000', 'xref': `x ${GROUP}:${n}` },
     ]
     const ix = new RangeIndexer({ group: GROUP, start: 1, end: 1000, rules: { ...DEFAULT_RULES, samplePercent: 0, droppedSignatures: [], priorities: { [GROUP]: 1 } } })
-    ix.add([post(1, 'Kitchen Cook <cook@example.com>', 'Soup.Recipes.2026.rar'), post(2, 'Kitchen Cook <cook@example.com>', 'Bread.Recipes.2026.rar'), post(3, 'Gardener <garden@example.com>', 'Roses.2026.rar')], 4)
+    ix.add([post(1, 'Kitchen Cook <cook@example.com>', 'Soup.Recipes.2026.rar'), post(2, 'Kitchen Cook <cook@example.com>', 'Bread.Recipes.2026.rar'), post(3, 'Gardener <garden@example.com>', 'Roses.2026.rar'), post(4, 'Kitchen Helper <help@example.com>', 'Cake.2026.rar')], 5)
     ix.finish()
     await BatchStore.store(Number(range.id), Number(node.id), ix.take())
 
-    assert.sameMembers((await db.from('posters').select('poster')).map((p) => p.poster), ['Kitchen Cook <cook@example.com>', 'Gardener <garden@example.com>'])
+    assert.sameMembers((await db.from('posters').select('poster')).map((p) => p.poster), ['Kitchen Cook <cook@example.com>', 'Gardener <garden@example.com>', 'Kitchen Helper <help@example.com>'])
     const found = await SearchService.search({ poster: 'kitchen' })
-    assert.equal(found.total, 2)
-    assert.isTrue(found.releases.every((r) => r.poster === 'Kitchen Cook <cook@example.com>'))
+    assert.equal(found.total, 3)
+    assert.isTrue(found.releases.every((r) => r.poster?.startsWith('Kitchen')))
+    // Pages over the posters found, merged in the order asked.
+    const second = await SearchService.search({ poster: 'kitchen', perPage: 2, page: 2 })
+    assert.equal(second.total, 3)
+    assert.equal(second.releases.length, 1)
+    const all = [...(await SearchService.search({ poster: 'kitchen', perPage: 2, page: 1 })).releases, ...second.releases].map((r) => r.id)
+    assert.sameMembers(all, found.releases.map((r) => r.id))
+    assert.equal((await SearchService.search({ poster: 'cook', q: 'Bread' })).total, 1)
     assert.equal((await SearchService.search({ poster: 'nobody' })).total, 0)
   })
 })