time put back on the clock??

[Back In The Saddle]

There does seem to be some ambiguity between 5-6-2 Ex. 3 and 5-10. The exception still seems to allow for lag time, a concept that was supposedly removed a couple of years ago. While 5-10-1 allows the official to put back on the exact time that was observed and 5-8-1 indicates that the clock is to stop when the official signals to stop the clock.

To my feeble mind, I believe the only way to bring order to these seemingly conflicting rules is by prioritizing. And the priority, to my way of thinking, is that if we have definite knowledge of the time that was on the clock when the signal was given, that time should be placed back on the clock. If the exact time is not known, and the timer was unable to stop the clock before time expired, then we live with the time expiring.