diff --git a/changelog.d/10722-cron-cronjob-barrier.md b/changelog.d/10722-cron-cronjob-barrier.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0904ddd72a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/10722-cron-cronjob-barrier.md
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+**`test_gap_cron_cronjob` no longer races the wall clock inside `pr-gate`'s
+scope.** The fixture started a `* * * * * *` CronJob, then waited with
+`while ((ticks < 2 || autoTicks < 2) && Date.now() < tickDeadline)` against a fixed
+`Date.now() + 10_000`. That deadline is a *timeout*, not a barrier: when it expired
+first the loop exited and the fixture printed `false` on two lines that are expected
+to read `true`, and dropped the `tick 1` / `tick 2` lines entirely — a four-line
+output divergence the harness classifies as a `parity_fail`, i.e. reports as a
+compiler regression. The header comment's claim that the output was "deterministic
+despite the timing" held only while two ticks of a one-per-second schedule landed
+inside ten seconds. It cost real work: the fixture failed in a merge-queue
+validation and #10530 was held out of a train on the strength of it, after which a
+`--trace llvm` A/B showed byte-identical IR.
+
+The wait is now a **barrier with no deadline**. The printed text becomes a function
+of CronJob's behaviour alone: either the ticks arrive and the fixture prints its one
+expected output, or nothing dispatches and the harness's own `PERRY_RUN_TIMEOUT`
+kills the run — which it classifies as a CRASH/timeout, distinctly from a parity
+mismatch, so a contended runner can no longer make this look like a miscompile.
+There is deliberately no fallback bound: any bound that prints, throws or exits
+differently on expiry reintroduces the same defect at a different threshold, and a
+`false`-printing 30s deadline is the identical bug with a longer fuse. The old
+number was in any case unreachable — `PERRY_RUN_TIMEOUT` is itself 10s, so the
+fixture's deadline could only ever fire in a photo finish with the kill.
+
+Nothing is weakened. The assertion moved from a printed comparison into the loop's
+exit condition, which the program cannot pass without satisfying; the four-arg
+`start=true` form, the non-auto-starting two-arg form and `start()`/`stop()`
+dispatch are all still exercised, and the `tick 1` / `tick 2` lines remain in the
+diff as positive evidence that the manual job fired. The never-started job's line
+got *stronger*: it printed a hardcoded `true`, and now prints `neverTicks === 0`
+from a real counter, checked after the barrier — i.e. after at least two cron
+seconds have demonstrably elapsed with that job unstarted. Output bytes are
+unchanged.
+
+Verified by injecting an identical 11-second synchronous event-loop stall into the
+old and new fixtures at the same point (a deterministic stand-in for the loaded
+runner). Under Node 26.5.1 and under Perry v0.5.1598 alike, the old fixture prints
+the four-line divergence and the new one is byte-identical to the unstalled oracle.
+The real fixture passes the harness (`run_parity_tests.sh --filter
+test_gap_cron_cronjob`, exit 0, journal `status: pass`), and eight consecutive Node
+runs gave one distinct output in 1.86–2.04 s — roughly a fifth of the run budget.
+
+Two sibling fixtures have the same shape and are *not* touched here:
+`test_gap_9592_child_timeout_threads` (a 1 s deadline whose expiry prints
+`timeout threads released: false`; Linux-only, short-circuited elsewhere) and
+`test_gap_9493_child_stdin_backpressure` (a watchdog that `resolve(false)`s). Both
+are in gate scope. (#10581)
diff --git a/test-files/test_gap_cron_cronjob.ts b/test-files/test_gap_cron_cronjob.ts
index d3e0b52bda..9e80f6dd68 100644
--- a/test-files/test_gap_cron_cronjob.ts
+++ b/test-files/test_gap_cron_cronjob.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,21 @@
 // Gap test: the npm `cron` package's CronJob class (distinct from
 // node-cron's schedule() factory). `new CronJob(expr, fn)` must NOT
 // auto-start; the 4-arg form with start=true must; start()/stop() must
-// dispatch. Tick counts are asserted as booleans and only the first two
-// manual ticks print, so output is deterministic despite the timing.
+// dispatch. Only the first two manual ticks print, so the output does not
+// depend on how many ticks land.
+//
+// #10581: the wait below is a BARRIER, not a deadline. It used to race a fixed
+// 10-second wall clock against a one-per-second schedule and print `false` when
+// the clock won -- classified as a `parity_fail`, i.e. read as a miscompile, on
+// a loaded runner. (`PERRY_RUN_TIMEOUT` is itself 10s, so that deadline could
+// only ever fire in a photo finish with the harness's own kill.) With no
+// deadline the printed text is a function of CronJob's behaviour alone: either
+// the ticks arrive and the output below is produced, or nothing dispatches and
+// the harness kills the run -- which it classifies as a CRASH/timeout,
+// distinctly from a parity mismatch. Deliberately no fallback bound: any bound
+// that prints, throws or exits differently on expiry reintroduces exactly this
+// defect at a different threshold. The fixture is not permitted to decide it
+// has waited long enough; two ticks of `* * * * * *` take ~2s.
 
 import { CronJob } from "cron";
 
@@ -16,8 +29,12 @@ async function main() {
   });
   console.log("constructed, ticks now:", ticks);
 
-  // A never-started job must not fire (would print below and break the diff).
+  // A never-started job must not fire (the log below would break the diff, and
+  // the counter is asserted after the barrier, i.e. after >= 2 cron seconds
+  // have demonstrably elapsed).
+  let neverTicks = 0;
   const never = new CronJob("* * * * * *", () => {
+    neverTicks++;
     console.log("SHOULD-NOT-RUN");
   });
 
@@ -33,8 +50,7 @@ async function main() {
   );
 
   job.start();
-  const tickDeadline = Date.now() + 10_000;
-  while ((ticks < 2 || autoTicks < 2) && Date.now() < tickDeadline) {
+  while (ticks < 2 || autoTicks < 2) {
     await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 100));
   }
   job.stop();
@@ -42,7 +58,7 @@ async function main() {
 
   console.log("manual ticked at least twice:", ticks >= 2);
   console.log("auto ticked at least twice:", autoTicks >= 2);
-  console.log("never-started stayed quiet:", true);
+  console.log("never-started stayed quiet:", neverTicks === 0);
   console.log("done");
 }