  Many potentially non-terminating functions cannot be directly defined in a
logic of total functions, such as HOL. A well-known solution to this is to
define non-terminating functions using a clock that forces termination at a
certain depth of evaluation. Such clocked definitions are often frowned upon
and avoided, since the clock is perceived as extra clutter. In this short
paper, we explain that there are different ways to add a clock, some less
intrusive than others. Our contribution is a technique by which termination
proofs are kept simple even when minimising the use of the clock mechanism. Our
examples are definitions of semantic interpreters for programming languages, so
called functional big-step semantics.
