diff --git a/corpus/round-trip/combinations/attribute-escapes.json b/corpus/round-trip/combinations/attribute-escapes.json
index 594712a..3ec83d2 100644
--- a/corpus/round-trip/combinations/attribute-escapes.json
+++ b/corpus/round-trip/combinations/attribute-escapes.json
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
         },
         {
           "attrs": {
-            "url": "b](c"
+            "url": "b](c)"
           },
           "type": "inlineCard"
         }
diff --git a/corpus/round-trip/combinations/attribute-escapes.md b/corpus/round-trip/combinations/attribute-escapes.md
index 5e5920d..534efe2 100644
--- a/corpus/round-trip/combinations/attribute-escapes.md
+++ b/corpus/round-trip/combinations/attribute-escapes.md
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@ a `b :inlineCard{url="c\u0060d"}
 
 ::extension {extensionKey=jira parameters="{\"jql\":\"a\u007cb \u0060c\u0060 \u0026 d \u003c e\"}"}
 
-[a:inlineCard{url="b](c"}
+[a:inlineCard{url="b](c)"}
diff --git a/spec/flavour.md b/spec/flavour.md
index 51eb85f..1dd9f6f 100644
--- a/spec/flavour.md
+++ b/spec/flavour.md
@@ -94,9 +94,10 @@ container is open, a named error otherwise.
 valid — no attributes. A bare value matches `[A-Za-z0-9_-]+`; any other value is double-quoted
 with JSON string escaping (`\"` `\\` `\n` `\t` `\uXXXX`, …) — total over
 Unicode, and raw newlines never appear inside quotes. A quoted value also escapes `` ` ``, `&`,
-`<` and `|` as `\u0060`, `\u0026`, `\u003c` and `\u007c`; `*`, `_`, `~`, `[` and `(` resolve after a
-directive binds and stay raw. The closing `}` is the first one outside quotes, since a quoted value
-holds `}` unescaped. All values are strings at the grammar level; each node's section assigns types.
+`<` and `|` as `\u0060`, `\u0026`, `\u003c` and `\u007c`; `*`, `_`, `~`, `[`, `]` and `(` resolve
+after a directive binds and stay raw. The closing `}` is the first one outside quotes, since a
+quoted value holds `}` unescaped. All values are strings at the grammar level; each node's section
+assigns types.
 Canonical form orders keys alphabetically, spells values bare wherever allowed, escapes inside
 quotes in the shortest form each escape has, and omits empty `{attrs}` except where the `{` itself
 claims the directive (`:hardBreak{}`).
@@ -220,8 +221,8 @@ One header row plus plain inline cells is a pipe table; anything richer is the d
 and every cell carry no attrs and no marks, the first row is all `tableHeader` and the rest all
 `tableCell`, every row has the header's cell count, and every cell holds exactly one attr-less,
 mark-less paragraph — an empty cell holds one empty paragraph — with no `|` anywhere the
-inline layer spells as syntax — a code span, a link destination or title: pipe form cannot spell
-that pipe and the table takes the directive form. A pipe table parses back to exactly that shape.
+inline layer spells as syntax: a code span, an autolink, a link destination or title. A `|` there
+takes the directive form instead. A pipe table parses back to exactly that shape.
 
 ```
 | Part | Qty |
diff --git a/src/adf-to-markdown.test.ts b/src/adf-to-markdown.test.ts
index 9e5aa0d..d41b5e4 100644
--- a/src/adf-to-markdown.test.ts
+++ b/src/adf-to-markdown.test.ts
@@ -255,6 +255,11 @@ test('escapes a literal delimiter that would merge with an emitted one', () => {
   assert.equal(code(adfToMarkdown(document(paragraph({ text: 'x', type: 'text' }, marked('~a', { type: 'strike' }))))), 'unspellable-mark')
   assert.equal(emitted({ text: '`', type: 'text' }, marked('x', { type: 'code' })), '\\``x`\n')
   assert.equal(emitted(marked('x', { type: 'code' }), { text: '`', type: 'text' }), '`x`\\`\n')
+  assert.equal(emitted({ text: '`a', type: 'text' }, marked('b', { type: 'code' })), '\\`a`b`\n')
+  assert.equal(
+    emitted({ text: '<https://example.com/', type: 'text' }, { attrs: { url: 'x>' }, type: 'inlineCard' }),
+    '\\<https://example.com/:inlineCard{url="x>"}\n',
+  )
   assert.equal(emitted({ text: '!', type: 'text' }, marked('x', { attrs: { href: 'https://example.com/' }, type: 'link' })), '\\![x](https://example.com/)\n')
   assert.equal(emitted({ text: '[a', type: 'text' }, marked('x', { attrs: { href: 'https://example.com/' }, type: 'link' })), '[a[x](https://example.com/)\n')
   assert.equal(emitted({ text: '[a](b)', type: 'text' }), '\\[a](b)\n')
diff --git a/src/markdown-escaping.ts b/src/markdown-escaping.ts
index d7effd3..21cf506 100644
--- a/src/markdown-escaping.ts
+++ b/src/markdown-escaping.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ const delimiters = ['*', '_', '`', '~']
 const asciiPunctuation = /[!"#$%&'()*+,\-./:;<=>?@[\\\]^_`{|}~]/
 const htmlConstructs = [/^<[!?]/, /^<\/?[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9-]*(?:[\s/>]|$)/, /^<[^\s<>@]+@[^\s<>@]+>/]
 const inlineDirectiveOpener = /^:[a-z][A-Za-z0-9]*[[{]/
-const linkTextCloser = /[([:]/
+const followsLinkText = /[([:]/
 const unicodePunctuation = /[\p{P}\p{S}]/u
 
 export function assembleInlineLine(segments: readonly InlineSegment[], container: LineContainer): AssembledLine {
@@ -179,11 +179,11 @@ function claimsCharacter(
   return false
 }
 
-// A `]` the emitter spelled closes the construct it belongs to, which binds first — never link text.
+// A `]` the emitter spelled sits inside a construct that binds before link text does.
 function opensLink(scan: string, escapings: readonly (InlineEscaping | undefined)[], index: number): boolean {
   for (let cursor = index + 1; cursor < scan.length; cursor += 1) {
     if (scan.charAt(cursor) !== ']' || isSyntax(escapings[cursor])) continue
-    if (linkTextCloser.test(scan.charAt(cursor + 1))) return true
+    if (followsLinkText.test(scan.charAt(cursor + 1))) return true
   }
   return false
 }