diff --git a/go/pointer/analysis.go b/go/pointer/analysis.go
index cb423f4e..c2f5a962 100644
--- a/go/pointer/analysis.go
+++ b/go/pointer/analysis.go
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ const (
 	debugHVN           = false // enable assertions in HVN
 	debugHVNVerbose    = false // enable extra HVN logging
 	debugHVNCrossCheck = false // run solver with/without HVN and compare (caveats below)
-	debugTimers        = true  // show running time of each phase
+	debugTimers        = false // show running time of each phase
 )
 
 // object.flags bitmask values.
diff --git a/go/pointer/hvn.go b/go/pointer/hvn.go
index 1dd9049c..0e1c6b24 100644
--- a/go/pointer/hvn.go
+++ b/go/pointer/hvn.go
@@ -160,7 +160,6 @@ package pointer
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"log"
 	"reflect"
 
 	"code.google.com/p/go.tools/container/intsets"
@@ -939,7 +938,9 @@ func (h *hvn) simplify() {
 	}
 	h.a.constraints = cc
 
-	log.Printf("#constraints: was %d, now %d\n", nbefore, len(h.a.constraints))
+	if h.log != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(h.log, "#constraints: was %d, now %d\n", nbefore, len(h.a.constraints))
+	}
 }
 
 // find returns the canonical onodeid for x.