In South America, can get some beast (a slob?) in a tangle (5)
I believe the answer is:
bolas
'in south america can' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'some beast a slob? in a tangle' is the wordplay.
'some' means to look at the middle letters.
'in a tangle' indicates an anagram.
The centre of 'beast' is 'a'.
'a'+'slob'='aslob'
'aslob' is an anagram of 'BOLAS'.
'get' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for bolas that I've seen is " What a gaucho may have".)