securing ticks in boxes
Well, I suppose I can see how that could take some time if I knew what the heck he was talking about.
I'm pretty confident that in this case what is NOT being referred to is the collection of the vile insect that is popularly known as a 'tick' and placing it into a box, ostensibly for etymological study.
Rather, I am virtually confident that what is being discussed is a (mainly British) colloquialism for what we in the USA might refer to as "a check-mark in a check-box" , popular among Socialist paper-pushers who make long lists of irrelevancies for others to fill out mainly in order to justify their jobs.
It's oftentimes expressed thusly or with some artistic variation:
"a tick secured in a box"