20 / MAY / 2026 · skippercheck.net/crossword
⚓ Daily Maritime Crossword
20 / MAY / 2026 — archive puzzle. The world's first maritime-only crossword — 259-term nautical corpus.
Across
Down
Finished Wednesday's puzzle? Try Tuesday's previous too
You're looking at the 20 / MAY / 2026 daily maritime crossword — a free nautical puzzle drawn from our 259-term corpus of COLREGs rules, VHF radio procedure, navigation marks, rigging and seamanship vocabulary. Every daily puzzle is deterministic — players worldwide saw exactly the same grid on 20 / MAY / 2026, so your time and hint count still rank against the global leaderboard.
If you solved this Wednesday grid, don't stop — 19 / MAY / 2026's puzzle is waiting with a fresh layout from the same nautical vocabulary. Warning: some clues lean on COLREGs Rule numbers and IALA buoyage — brush up if you're rusty.
Browse the full crossword archive to replay every past puzzle, or print this one to A4 using the 🖨️ Print button above — solutions are printed upside-down at the bottom of the page, newspaper-style.
Yesterday's clues & answers — 19 / MAY / 2026
Newspaper-style: today's page publishes the full solution to Tuesday's puzzle (15 maritime terms). Today's answers stay hidden until tomorrow — play the grid above, or replay Tuesday's grid.
Across
- To let a sheet, halyard, or other line run out in a controlled manner (4) — EASE
- A microwave ranging system that bounces a rotating pulse off targets and displays their bearing and range; modern broadb… (5) — RADAR
- To remove water from inside the vessel, traditionally with a bucket or scoop (4) — BAIL
- A pivoting keel that can be raised into a trunk to reduce draft and lowered to resist leeway (11) — CENTERBOARD
- Any space inside the vessel that is beneath the deck (5) — BELOW
- A patch of shallow water, often sand or mud, representing a hazard (5) — SHOAL
- To tie down, lash, or make fast (6) — SECURE
Down
- A vessel filled with water but still floating (7) — SWAMPED
- The line on the hull where it meets the water surface at the design load (9) — WATERLINE
- To reduce effective sail area in strong wind by rolling, folding, or partly lowering a sail (4) — REEF
- A large, usually closable opening in the deck or coachroof for access, ventilation, or light (5) — HATCH
- The forward end of the vessel (3) — BOW
- The direction, expressed in degrees, in which the vessel is being steered (6) — COURSE
- To sail a course that will clear a mark or obstacle without an additional tack (3) — LAY
- In the IALA Region B system, a red even-numbered conical buoy marking the starboard side of a channel when entering from… (3) — NUN
Great for studying COLREGs, VHF procedure, navigation marks, rigging and seamanship vocabulary — or just as a spoiler if you got stuck.