diff --git a/scripts/tcl_commands/synthesis.tcl b/scripts/tcl_commands/synthesis.tcl
index 88a32cf81..257e4b6d7 100755
--- a/scripts/tcl_commands/synthesis.tcl
+++ b/scripts/tcl_commands/synthesis.tcl
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ proc run_verilator {} {
     lappend arg_list {*}$defines
 
     puts_info "Running linter (Verilator) (log: [relpath . $log])..."
-    try_exec verilator \
+    catch_exec verilator \
         -Wall \
         --lint-only \
         --Wno-DECLFILENAME \
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ proc run_verilator {} {
 
     set timing_errors [exec bash -c "grep -i 'Error-NEEDTIMINGOPT' $log || true"]
     if { $timing_errors ne "" } {
-        set msg "Timing constructs found in the RTL. Please remove them or wrap them around an ifdef. It heavily unrecommended to rely on timing constructs for synthesis."
+        set msg "Timing constructs found in the RTL. Please remove them or add a preprocessor guard. It is heavily discouraged to rely on timing constructs in synthesis."
         if { $::env(QUIT_ON_LINTER_ERRORS) } {
             puts_err $msg
             throw_error
diff --git a/scripts/utils/utils.tcl b/scripts/utils/utils.tcl
index 5ec7d7d7c..592367946 100755
--- a/scripts/utils/utils.tcl
+++ b/scripts/utils/utils.tcl
@@ -197,13 +197,16 @@ proc set_and_log {var val} {
     close $global_cfg_file
 }
 
-proc try_exec {args} {
-    # puts_info "Executing \"$args\"\n"
+proc catch_exec {args} {
     if { ! [catch { set cmd_log_file [open $::env(RUN_DIR)/cmds.log a+] } ]} {
         set timestamp [clock format [clock seconds]]
         puts $cmd_log_file "$timestamp - Executing \"$args\"\n"
         close $cmd_log_file
     }
+    catch {eval exec $args}
+}
+
+proc try_exec {args} {
     set exit_code [catch {eval exec $args} error_msg]
     if { $exit_code } {
         set tool [string range $args 0 [string first " " $args]]