Radial cracks for indented soda–lime glass aged in distilled water were highly elliptical because of truncation by lateral cracks. Indentation in silicone oil minimized radial/lateral crack interaction but still produced cracks having nominally constant ellipticity during bend testing. Analysis of applied stress/indentation crack length data using stress intensity factors based on half‐penny crack shape resulted in apparentR‐curve behavior and/or overestimation of the fracture toughness. Incorporation of elliptical shape factors eliminated theR‐curve behavior and reduced measured toughness to near the accepted value for soda–l