05 / SEP / 2026 · skippercheck.net/crossword
⚓ Daily Maritime Crossword
05 / SEP / 2026 — archive puzzle. The world's first maritime-only crossword — 259-term nautical corpus.
Across
Down
Finished Saturday's puzzle? Try Friday's previous too
You're looking at the 05 / SEP / 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 05 / SEP / 2026, so your time and hint count still rank against the global leaderboard.
If you solved this Saturday grid, don't stop — 04 / SEP / 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 — 04 / SEP / 2026
Newspaper-style: today's page publishes the full solution to Friday's puzzle (15 maritime terms). Today's answers stay hidden until tomorrow — play the grid above, or replay Friday's grid.
Across
- The outer sides of the hull between the waterline and the deck (8) — TOPSIDES
- Standing rigging running from the bow (or stemhead) up to the mast, to which the foresail is hanked or furled (8) — FORESTAY
- The vertical spar — originally timber, today commonly aluminium or carbon — from which the mainsail is hoisted (4) — MAST
- A pivoting keel that can be raised into a trunk to reduce draft and lowered to resist leeway (11) — CENTERBOARD
- The outgoing phase of the tide, when water level is falling and the flow runs seaward (3) — EBB
- The left side of the boat when facing forward (4) — PORT
- The fitting (on deck or on the keel) into which the foot of the mast is stepped (8) — MASTSTEP
Down
- A vessel filled with water but still floating (7) — SWAMPED
- A fabric sun awning stretched over a stainless-steel frame above the cockpit to shelter the crew from sun and light rain (6) — BIMINI
- A severe knock in which the boat is blown onto her side far enough that a spreader dips into the water (9) — KNOCKDOWN
- The grooved wheel inside a block or at the head of a mast over which a line runs (6) — SHEAVE
- The disturbed water and trailing waves left behind a moving vessel (4) — WAKE
- To remove water from inside the vessel, traditionally with a bucket or scoop (4) — BAIL
- To adjust a sail's controls to produce optimum drive and lift (4) — TRIM
- The direction (usually in degrees true) in which a current flows (3) — SET
Great for studying COLREGs, VHF procedure, navigation marks, rigging and seamanship vocabulary — or just as a spoiler if you got stuck.