diff --git a/doc/NEWS.Rd b/doc/NEWS.Rd
index effe9a6bd2..461248ef80 100644
--- a/doc/NEWS.Rd
+++ b/doc/NEWS.Rd
@@ -538,14 +538,14 @@
       \code{summary()} method results, and it is documented explicitly.
 
       \item \code{options(show.error.locations = TRUE)} once
-      again shows the most recent known location when an 
-      error is reported.  Setting its value to \code{"bottom"} 
+      again shows the most recent known location when an
+      error is reported.  Setting its value to \code{"bottom"}
       is no longer supported.  Numerical values are converted
       to logical.
 
       \item C API function \code{R_GetCurrentSrcref(skip)} now
       returns \code{srcref} entries correctly.  (Note that there
-      is also a change to the interpretation of \code{skip}; 
+      is also a change to the interpretation of \code{skip};
       see the C-LEVEL API entry above.)
 
       \item \code{tools::Rd2latex()} now removes leading and trailing
@@ -558,6 +558,10 @@
       \item The argument of \code{as.environment()} is named \code{x} now,
       not \code{object}, as it was always documented and shown when
       printing it; thanks to \I{Gael Millot}'s \PR{18849}.
+
+      \item When \command{R CMD check} aims at getting the time+date from a
+      world clock, it is more robust against unexpected non-error results,
+      thanks to \I{Michael Chirico}'s \PR{18852}.
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/library/tools/R/check.R b/src/library/tools/R/check.R
index d44a8c1255..3380924863 100644
--- a/src/library/tools/R/check.R
+++ b/src/library/tools/R/check.R
@@ -521,6 +521,7 @@ add_dummies <- function(dir, Log)
             if(config_val_to_logical(Sys.getenv("_R_CHECK_SYSTEM_CLOCK_", "TRUE"))) {
                 ## First check time on system running 'check',
                 ## by reading an external source in UTC
+                notOK <- function(t) !length(t) || is.na(t[1]) # seen length > 1
                 now <- tryCatch({
                     foo <- suppressWarnings(readLines("https://worldtimeapi.org/api/timezone/etc/UTC",
                                                       warn = FALSE))
@@ -528,7 +529,7 @@ add_dummies <- function(dir, Log)
                     as.POSIXct(gsub(".*\"datetime\":\"([^Z]*).*", "\\1", foo),
                                "UTC", "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S")
                 }, error = function(e) NA)
-                if(identical(NA, now)) { # try http (no 's')
+                if(notOK(now)) { # try http (no 's')
                     now <- tryCatch({
                         foo <- suppressWarnings(readLines("http://worldtimeapi.org/api/timezone/etc/UTC",
                                                           warn = FALSE))
@@ -537,7 +538,7 @@ add_dummies <- function(dir, Log)
                                    "UTC", "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S")
                     }, error = function(e) NA)
                 }
-                if (FALSE && identical(NA, now)) { ## seems permanently stopped
+                if(notOK(now)) { ## seemed permanently stopped, yet works 2025-02-08 and *-*-09
                     now <- tryCatch({
                         foo <- suppressWarnings(readLines("http://worldclockapi.com/api/json/utc/now",
                                                           warn = FALSE))
@@ -546,7 +547,7 @@ add_dummies <- function(dir, Log)
                                    "UTC", "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M")
                     }, error = function(e) NA)
                 }
-                if(identical(NA, now)) {
+                if(notOK(now)) {
                     any <- TRUE
                     noteLog(Log, "unable to verify current time")
                 } else {
@@ -1292,7 +1293,7 @@ add_dummies <- function(dir, Log)
                          "\n")
             }
         }
-        
+
         if (!any) resultLog(Log, "OK")
         ## return (<never used in caller>):
         db