--- /Users/jocrau/Downloads/typo3_src-4.1.6/typo3/sysext/cms/tslib/class.tslib_content.php
+++ class.tslib_content_patched.php
@@ -3605,25 +3605,81 @@
 	 * @access private
 	 * @see stdWrap()
 	 */
-	function crop($content,$options)	{
+	function crop($content,$options) {
 		$options = explode('|',$options);
 		$chars = intval($options[0]);
 		$afterstring = trim($options[1]);
 		$crop2space = trim($options[2]);
-		if ($chars)	{
-			if (strlen($content)>abs($chars))	{
-				if ($chars<0)	{
-					$content = $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->substr($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset,$content,$chars);
-					$trunc_at = strpos($content, ' ');
-					$content = ($trunc_at&&$crop2space) ? $afterstring.substr($content,$trunc_at) : $afterstring.$content;
+		$tags= 'a|b|blockquote|body|div|em|font|form|h1|h2|h3|h4|h5|h6|i|li|map|ol|option|p|pre|sub|sup|select|span|strong|table|td|textarea|tr|u|ul|br|hr|img|input|area|link';
+		$regEx = '/(\<\/?(?:' . $tags . ')(?:\s*\>|\s[^\>]*\>))/si';
+		$splittedContent = preg_split($regEx, $content, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
+		$strlen = 0;
+		// reverse array for 'back cropping'
+		$splittedContent = $chars < 0 ? array_reverse($splittedContent) : $splittedContent;
+		// crop the text (chars of a tag are not counted)
+		for ($offset=0; $offset < count($splittedContent); $offset++) {
+			if ($offset%2 === 0) {
+				$thisStrLen = $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->strlen($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset, html_entity_decode($splittedContent[$offset],ENT_COMPAT,$GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset));
+				if (($strlen + $thisStrLen > abs($chars))) {
+					$croppedOffset = NULL; // offset of the content item which was cropped
+					if ($chars < 0) {
+						$cropPosition = $chars + $strlen;
+						$splittedContent[$offset] = $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->substr($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset, $splittedContent[$offset], $cropPosition);
+						$truncatePosition = strpos($splittedContent[$offset], ' ');
+						$splittedContent[$offset] = $crop2space ? $afterstring . $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->substr($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset, $splittedContent[$offset], (int)$truncatePosition) :  $afterstring . $splittedContent[$offset];
+					} else {
+						$cropPosition = $chars - $strlen;
+						$splittedContent[$offset] = $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->substr($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset, $splittedContent[$offset], 0, $cropPosition);
+						$truncatePosition = strrpos($splittedContent[$offset], ' ');
+						$splittedContent[$offset] = $crop2space ? $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->substr($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset, $splittedContent[$offset], 0, (int)$truncatePosition) . $afterstring : $splittedContent[$offset] . $afterstring;								
+					}
+					// remember the $offset at which we cropped the content
+					$croppedOffset = $offset;
+					break;
 				} else {
-					$content = $GLOBALS['TSFE']->csConvObj->substr($GLOBALS['TSFE']->renderCharset,$content,0,$chars);
-					$trunc_at = strrpos($content, ' ');
-					$content = ($trunc_at&&$crop2space) ? substr($content, 0, $trunc_at).$afterstring : $content.$afterstring;
+					$strlen += $thisStrLen;
 				}
 			}
 		}
-		return $content;
+
+		// close cropped tags
+		$closingTags = array();
+		if($croppedOffset !== NULL) {
+			$tagName = '';
+			$openingTagRegEx = '/^<([a-zA-Z0-6]+)(?:\s|>)/';
+			$closingTagRegEx = '/^<\/([a-zA-Z0-6]+)(?:\s|>)/';
+			for ($offset=$croppedOffset-1; $offset >= 0; $offset = $offset-2) {
+				if (preg_match('/\/\>$/',$splittedContent[$offset])) continue; // ignore empty element tags (e.g. <br />)
+				preg_match($chars<0?$closingTagRegEx:$openingTagRegEx, $splittedContent[$offset], $matches);
+				$tagName = $matches[1];
+				// seek for the closing (or opening) tag
+				if (trim($tagName)!=='') {
+					$seekingTagName = '';
+					for ($seekingOffset=$offset+2; $seekingOffset < count($splittedContent); $seekingOffset = $seekingOffset+2) {
+						preg_match($chars<0?$openingTagRegEx:$closingTagRegEx, $splittedContent[$seekingOffset], $matches);
+						$seekingTagName = $matches[1];
+						if ($tagName === $seekingTagName) { // we found a matching tag
+							// add closing tag only if it occurs after the cropped content item
+							if ($seekingOffset > $croppedOffset) {
+								$closingTags[] = $splittedContent[$seekingOffset];
+							}
+							break;
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}
+			// drop the unnecessary items of the content array
+			array_splice($splittedContent,$croppedOffset+1);			
+		}
+
+		if ($chars < 0) { // reverse array for 'back cropping'
+			$splittedContent = array_merge($splittedContent,$closingTags);					
+			$splittedContent = array_reverse($splittedContent);
+		} else {
+			$splittedContent = array_merge($splittedContent,$closingTags);					
+		}
+		
+		return implode('',$splittedContent);
 	}
 
 	/**