diff --git a/cmake/DownloadTileDB.cmake b/cmake/DownloadTileDB.cmake
index 34f93dc05d..d8a0ecd5d1 100644
--- a/cmake/DownloadTileDB.cmake
+++ b/cmake/DownloadTileDB.cmake
@@ -38,20 +38,37 @@ function(fetch_tiledb_release_list VERSION)
                 set(VERSION latest)
         endif()
 
+        set(RELLIST_URL ${UPSTREAM_URL}/${VERSION}/releases.csv)
         if(EXPECTED_HASH)
-                file(DOWNLOAD
-                        ${UPSTREAM_URL}/${VERSION}/releases.csv
-                        ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/releases.csv
-                        SHOW_PROGRESS
-                        EXPECTED_HASH ${EXPECTED_HASH}
-                )
+                set(HASH_ARGS EXPECTED_HASH ${EXPECTED_HASH})
         else()
                 message(WARNING "Downloading release list without SHA checksum!")
+        endif()
+
+        # A failed download leaves an empty file and no error, which surfaces
+        # later as an unrelated one, and a CI matrix fetches this from dozens of
+        # jobs at once. So a failure is retried, then reported as what it is.
+        set(ATTEMPTS 3)
+        foreach(ATTEMPT RANGE 1 ${ATTEMPTS})
                 file(DOWNLOAD
-                        ${UPSTREAM_URL}/${VERSION}/releases.csv
+                        ${RELLIST_URL}
                         ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/releases.csv
                         SHOW_PROGRESS
+                        ${HASH_ARGS}
+                        STATUS DOWNLOAD_STATUS
                 )
+                list(GET DOWNLOAD_STATUS 0 DOWNLOAD_CODE)
+                list(GET DOWNLOAD_STATUS 1 DOWNLOAD_MESSAGE)
+                if(DOWNLOAD_CODE EQUAL 0)
+                        break()
+                endif()
+                message(WARNING "Downloading ${RELLIST_URL} failed (attempt ${ATTEMPT} of ${ATTEMPTS}): ${DOWNLOAD_MESSAGE}")
+                if(ATTEMPT LESS ATTEMPTS)
+                        execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E sleep 5)
+                endif()
+        endforeach()
+        if(NOT DOWNLOAD_CODE EQUAL 0)
+                message(FATAL_ERROR "Could not download the TileDB release list from ${RELLIST_URL}: ${DOWNLOAD_MESSAGE}")
         endif()
 
         file(STRINGS
diff --git a/tiledb/tests/test_hypothesis.py b/tiledb/tests/test_hypothesis.py
index 6494f420da..c6b4c764f3 100644
--- a/tiledb/tests/test_hypothesis.py
+++ b/tiledb/tests/test_hypothesis.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import time
-
 import hypothesis as hp
 import hypothesis.strategies as st
 import numpy as np
@@ -18,14 +16,9 @@
 @hp.settings(deadline=None, verbosity=hp.Verbosity.verbose)
 @hp.given(st.binary())
 def test_bytes_npdf(checked_path, mode, data):
-    start = time.time()
-
     uri = "mem://" + checked_path.path()
-    hp.note(f"!!! path '{uri}' time: {time.time() - start}")
-
     array = np.array([data], dtype="S0")
 
-    start_ingest = time.time()
     if mode == "np":
         with tiledb.from_numpy(uri, array) as A:
             pass
@@ -35,28 +28,8 @@ def test_bytes_npdf(checked_path, mode, data):
         # NOTE: ctx required here for mem://
         tiledb.from_pandas(uri, df, sparse=False, ctx=tiledb.default_ctx())
 
-    hp.note(f"{mode} ingest time: {time.time() - start_ingest}")
-
-    # DEBUG
-    tiledb.stats_enable()
-    tiledb.stats_reset()
-    # END DEBUG
-
     with tiledb.open(uri) as A:
         if mode == "np":
             np.testing.assert_array_equal(A.multi_index[:][""], array)
         else:
             tm.assert_frame_equal(A.df[:], df)
-
-    hp.note(tiledb.stats_dump(print_out=False))
-
-    # DEBUG
-    tiledb.stats_disable()
-
-    duration = time.time() - start
-    hp.note(f"!!! test_bytes_{mode} duration: {duration}")
-    if duration > 2:
-        # Hypothesis setup is (maybe) causing deadline exceeded errors
-        # https://github.com/TileDB-Inc/TileDB-Py/issues/1194
-        # Set deadline=None and use internal timing instead.
-        pytest.fail(f"!!! {mode} function body duration exceeded 2s: {duration}")