Obstruction - what's your mechanic?

[cbfoulds]

A suggestion: [I have not had this sort of thing happen to me, so I can't say "this is what I do"]

The "book" mechanic for delayed-dead OBS is call & signal:
"That's obstruction!" - hold the left fist closed, out away from your side.

It would seem reasonable to me that, when the runner reaches the base to which you are protecting him, you drop the signal, i.e.: open your fist and drop the arm back to your side.

Thus, by taking a quick look at your partner, you can see what he is thinking about whether the runner is protected to "your" base: if he has his arms up calling "TIME!!", obviously he has the runner protected against the play at that base; if he still has the delay-dead signal on, he's just a slow, but the runner is still protected; if he has dropped the signal, the runner is beyond his protected advance and liable to be put out.

You ARE going to have to explain why the runner is out, since he was obstructed, but at least you won't have a "He's OUT!" "No, he's not, I've got Obstruction, with delayed-dead ball, he gets Home"; or worse - "Safe, he was obstructed between 2d & 3d" ... "Wait a minute partner, I only had him protected to 3d" .. "Oh, then I guess he's OUT."