diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index ea4793c2e75713a1305ed963ef2e76ebb5a0bb0a..a75374b3ff0a07e27ebf0ea98fbd99f2c795881b 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -4,6 +4,15 @@
 
  Changes between 0.9.7c and 0.9.8  [xx XXX xxxx]
 
+  *) The tmdiff.h API was so ugly and minimal that our own timing utility
+     (speed) prefers to use its own implementation. The two implementations
+     haven't been consolidated as yet (volunteers?) but the tmdiff API has had
+     its object type properly exposed (MS_TM) instead of casting to/from "char
+     *". This may still change yet if someone realises MS_TM and "ms_time_***"
+     aren't necessarily the greatest nomenclatures - but this is what was used
+     internally to the implementation so I've used that for now.
+     [Geoff Thorpe]
+
   *) Ensure that deprecated functions do not get compiled when
      OPENSSL_NO_DEPRECATED is defined. Some "openssl" subcommands and a few of
      the self-tests were still using deprecated key-generation functions so
diff --git a/apps/speed.c b/apps/speed.c
index 558760732f4cd23be14278b2255db1f7d343f9d7..5576f23feed47de431969289cc5ce3e63db0db93 100644
--- a/apps/speed.c
+++ b/apps/speed.c
@@ -208,11 +208,21 @@
 #include <openssl/ecdh.h>
 #endif
 
+/*
+ * The following "HZ" timing stuff should be sync'd up with the code in
+ * crypto/tmdiff.[ch]. That appears to try to do the same job, though I think
+ * this code is more up to date than libcrypto's so there may be features to
+ * migrate over first. This is used in two places further down AFAICS. 
+ * The point is that nothing in openssl actually *uses* that tmdiff stuff, so
+ * either speed.c should be using it or it should go because it's obviously not
+ * useful enough. Anyone want to do a janitorial job on this?
+ */
+
 /* The following if from times(3) man page.  It may need to be changed */
 #ifndef HZ
 # if defined(_SC_CLK_TCK) \
      && (!defined(OPENSSL_SYS_VMS) || __CTRL_VER >= 70000000)
-#  define HZ ((double)sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK))
+#  define HZ sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK)
 # else
 #  ifndef CLK_TCK
 #   ifndef _BSD_CLK_TCK_ /* FreeBSD hack */
@@ -294,7 +304,7 @@ static double Time_F(int s)
 
 #ifdef USE_TOD
 	if(usertime)
-	    {
+		{
 		static struct rusage tstart,tend;
 
 		getrusage_used = 1;
@@ -349,7 +359,8 @@ static double Time_F(int s)
 		else
 			{
 			times(&tend);
-			ret=((double)(tend.tms_utime-tstart.tms_utime))/HZ;
+			ret = HZ;
+			ret=(double)(tend.tms_utime-tstart.tms_utime) / ret;
 			return((ret < 1e-3)?1e-3:ret);
 			}
 		}
@@ -2191,7 +2202,10 @@ show_res:
 #endif
 #ifdef HZ
 #define as_string(s) (#s)
-		printf("HZ=%g", (double)HZ);
+		{
+		double dbl = HZ;
+		printf("HZ=%g", dbl);
+		}
 # ifdef _SC_CLK_TCK
 		printf(" [sysconf value]");
 # endif
diff --git a/crypto/tmdiff.c b/crypto/tmdiff.c
index 307523ebba3b96248383b7911178d9809df8ee1e..cbec38e178657b1df2eb27a1a42ebf2f83bc6ffd 100644
--- a/crypto/tmdiff.c
+++ b/crypto/tmdiff.c
@@ -106,7 +106,8 @@
 #ifndef HZ
 # if defined(_SC_CLK_TCK) \
      && (!defined(OPENSSL_SYS_VMS) || __CTRL_VER >= 70000000)
-#  define HZ ((double)sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK))
+/* #  define HZ ((double)sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK)) */
+#  define HZ sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK)
 # else
 #  ifndef CLK_TCK
 #   ifndef _BSD_CLK_TCK_ /* FreeBSD hack */
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@
 # endif
 #endif
 
-typedef struct ms_tm
+struct ms_tm
 	{
 #ifdef TIMES
 	struct tms ms_tms;
@@ -136,9 +137,9 @@ typedef struct ms_tm
 #    endif
 #  endif
 #endif
-	} MS_TM;
+	};
 
-char *ms_time_new(void)
+MS_TM *ms_time_new(void)
 	{
 	MS_TM *ret;
 
@@ -149,18 +150,17 @@ char *ms_time_new(void)
 #ifdef OPENSSL_SYS_WIN32
 	ret->thread_id=GetCurrentThread();
 #endif
-	return((char *)ret);
+	return ret;
 	}
 
-void ms_time_free(char *a)
+void ms_time_free(MS_TM *a)
 	{
 	if (a != NULL)
 		OPENSSL_free(a);
 	}
 
-void ms_time_get(char *a)
+void ms_time_get(MS_TM *tm)
 	{
-	MS_TM *tm=(MS_TM *)a;
 #ifdef OPENSSL_SYS_WIN32
 	FILETIME tmpa,tmpb,tmpc;
 #endif
@@ -180,14 +180,13 @@ void ms_time_get(char *a)
 #endif
 	}
 
-double ms_time_diff(char *ap, char *bp)
+double ms_time_diff(MS_TM *a, MS_TM *b)
 	{
-	MS_TM *a=(MS_TM *)ap;
-	MS_TM *b=(MS_TM *)bp;
 	double ret;
 
 #ifdef TIMES
-	ret=(b->ms_tms.tms_utime-a->ms_tms.tms_utime)/HZ;
+	ret = HZ;
+	ret = (b->ms_tms.tms_utime-a->ms_tms.tms_utime) / ret;
 #else
 # ifdef OPENSSL_SYS_WIN32
 	{
@@ -217,14 +216,14 @@ double ms_time_diff(char *ap, char *bp)
 	return((ret < 0.0000001)?0.0000001:ret);
 	}
 
-int ms_time_cmp(char *ap, char *bp)
+int ms_time_cmp(const MS_TM *a, const MS_TM *b)
 	{
-	MS_TM *a=(MS_TM *)ap,*b=(MS_TM *)bp;
 	double d;
 	int ret;
 
 #ifdef TIMES
-	d=(b->ms_tms.tms_utime-a->ms_tms.tms_utime)/HZ;
+	d = HZ;
+	d = (b->ms_tms.tms_utime-a->ms_tms.tms_utime) / d;
 #else
 # ifdef OPENSSL_SYS_WIN32
 	d =(b->ms_win32.dwHighDateTime&0x000fffff)*10+b->ms_win32.dwLowDateTime/1e7;
diff --git a/crypto/tmdiff.h b/crypto/tmdiff.h
index 41a8a1e0e0dab6b059e6184e62efef87da9555be..af5c41c649929ce0ae042aa244fc0cb58ade7661 100644
--- a/crypto/tmdiff.h
+++ b/crypto/tmdiff.h
@@ -59,6 +59,16 @@
 /* Header for dynamic hash table routines
  * Author - Eric Young
  */
+/* ... erm yeah, "dynamic hash tables" you say?
+ * 
+ * And what would dynamic hash tables have to do with any of this code *now*?
+ * AFAICS, this code is only referenced by crypto/bn/exp.c which is an unused
+ * file that I doubt compiles any more. speed.c is the only thing that could
+ * use this (and it has nothing to do with hash tables), yet it instead has its
+ * own duplication of all this stuff and looks, if anything, more complete. See
+ * the corresponding note in apps/speed.c.
+ * The Bemused - Geoff
+ */
 
 #ifndef HEADER_TMDIFF_H
 #define HEADER_TMDIFF_H
@@ -67,11 +77,13 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
-char *ms_time_new(void );
-void ms_time_free(char *a);
-void ms_time_get(char *a);
-double ms_time_diff(char *start,char *end);
-int ms_time_cmp(char *ap,char *bp);
+typedef struct ms_tm MS_TM;
+
+MS_TM *ms_time_new(void );
+void ms_time_free(MS_TM *a);
+void ms_time_get(MS_TM *a);
+double ms_time_diff(MS_TM *start, MS_TM *end);
+int ms_time_cmp(const MS_TM *ap, const MS_TM *bp);
 
 #ifdef  __cplusplus
 }