untangle

Lilly's relationship ended, but there was much to untangle - her ex was also her business partner, leaving her faced with raising the funds to buy him out.

“We need the president’s help to untangle the spirits industry, and the greater hospitality industry, from these tariffs. We’re collateral damage.”

These seemingly unconnected events are all part of a web of international organised crime that police have untangled after a six-year-long investigation.

The highly-integrated auto industry, for example, would take years to untangle.

In a sense, then, the alliance is held together by complex supply chains and contractual agreements that could not possibly be untangled overnight.