| COTTON | Back in 1794, Eli Whitney changed America by inventing an engine (or "gin") which could separate the fibers of this fluffy, white crop from its seeds |
| TIDE | "Rising ___: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America" (John Barry book) |
| OTIS | The man who made skyscrapers possible by inventing the elevator |
| FAKE | Word meaning falsify, feign, forge or fudge, whether by inventing hoax news, French trickery "trucage" or talking through one's hat (4) |
| FORCEAPART | Fear captor could separate with a wrench (5,5) |
| HEDGE | Hard border that could separate neighbours' gardens |
| THRUWAYS | Why US tar changed US roads? (8) |
| EXHAUST | An engine or vehicle's system through which waste gases or steam are expelled during its operation; or, the emissions themselves (7) |
| BIKE | An engine- or human-powered two-wheeler for a spin or ride; or, a rarely used word for a bee's nest or hive (4) |
| DINK | Short word for a two-wheeled vehicle with a human for an engine; or, Scots dialect for a nest or swarm of ants, hornets, wasps or wild bees (4) |
| BRAKEHORSEPOWER | Force of an engine or turbine, as measured by a dynamometer (5,10) |
| NELSON | Horatio, British naval hero who lost sight in his right eye during the siege of Calvi in Corsica in 1794 (6) |
| YTTRIUM | Chemical element discovered by Johan Gadolin in 1794, represented by the letter Y (7) |
| COOLANT | Fluid circulating in an engine or reactor |
| MOTOR | An engine, or the driver |
| RPM | Stat for an engine or an LP |
| CHAMBER | Compartment in an engine or machine |
| SAUSAGE | One of those in the plot takes in America by banger (7) |
| COTTONGIN | Textile machine invented by Eli Whitney |
| CHILLI | Hot stuff from place in South America, by the sound of it (6) |
