diff --git a/triton-constraint-circuit/src/lib.rs b/triton-constraint-circuit/src/lib.rs
index 68ba3405..c3539a9f 100644
--- a/triton-constraint-circuit/src/lib.rs
+++ b/triton-constraint-circuit/src/lib.rs
@@ -781,25 +781,23 @@ impl<II: InputIndicator> ConstraintCircuitMonad<II> {
         multicircuit: &[ConstraintCircuitMonad<II>],
         target_degree: isize,
     ) -> usize {
-        // The relevant fields of a ConstraintCircuit.
-        // Avoids interior mutability in a HashSet, which is a foot gun.
-        #[derive(Debug, Copy, Clone, Eq, PartialEq, Hash)]
-        struct PartialNodeInfo {
-            id: usize,
-            degree: isize,
-        }
-
         assert!(!multicircuit.is_empty());
         let multicircuit = multicircuit
             .iter()
             .map(|c| c.clone().consume())
             .collect_vec();
 
+        // Computing all node degree is slow; this cache de-duplicates work.
+        let node_degrees = Self::all_nodes_in_multicircuit(&multicircuit)
+            .into_iter()
+            .map(|node| (node.id, node.degree()))
+            .collect::<HashMap<_, _>>();
+
         // Only nodes with degree > target_degree need changing.
         let high_degree_nodes = Self::all_nodes_in_multicircuit(&multicircuit)
             .into_iter()
+            .filter(|node| node_degrees[&node.id] > target_degree)
             .unique()
-            .filter(|node| node.degree() > target_degree)
             .collect_vec();
 
         // Collect all candidates for substitution, i.e., descendents of high_degree_nodes
@@ -807,11 +805,8 @@ impl<II: InputIndicator> ConstraintCircuitMonad<II> {
         // Substituting a node of degree 1 is both pointless and can lead to infinite iteration.
         let low_degree_nodes = Self::all_nodes_in_multicircuit(&high_degree_nodes)
             .into_iter()
-            .filter(|node| 1 < node.degree() && node.degree() <= target_degree)
-            .map(|node| PartialNodeInfo {
-                id: node.id,
-                degree: node.degree(),
-            })
+            .filter(|node| 1 < node_degrees[&node.id] && node_degrees[&node.id] <= target_degree)
+            .map(|node| node.id)
             .collect_vec();
 
         // If the resulting list is empty, there is no way forward. Stop – panic time!
@@ -819,20 +814,25 @@ impl<II: InputIndicator> ConstraintCircuitMonad<II> {
 
         // Of the remaining nodes, keep the ones occurring the most often.
         let mut nodes_and_occurrences = HashMap::new();
-        for node in &low_degree_nodes {
+        for node in low_degree_nodes {
             *nodes_and_occurrences.entry(node).or_insert(0) += 1;
         }
         let max_occurrences = nodes_and_occurrences.iter().map(|(_, &c)| c).max().unwrap();
         nodes_and_occurrences.retain(|_, &mut count| count == max_occurrences);
-        let mut candidate_nodes = nodes_and_occurrences.keys().copied().collect_vec();
+        let mut candidate_node_ids = nodes_and_occurrences.keys().copied().collect_vec();
 
         // If there are still multiple nodes, pick the one with the highest degree.
-        let max_degree = candidate_nodes.iter().map(|n| n.degree).max().unwrap();
-        candidate_nodes.retain(|node| node.degree == max_degree);
+        let max_degree = candidate_node_ids
+            .iter()
+            .map(|node_id| node_degrees[node_id])
+            .max()
+            .unwrap();
+        candidate_node_ids.retain(|node_id| node_degrees[node_id] == max_degree);
+
+        candidate_node_ids.sort_unstable();
 
         // If there are still multiple nodes, pick any one – but deterministically so.
-        candidate_nodes.sort_unstable_by_key(|node| node.id);
-        candidate_nodes[0].id
+        candidate_node_ids.into_iter().min().unwrap()
     }
 
     /// Returns all nodes used in the multicircuit.