20 / SEP / 2026 · skippercheck.net/crossword
⚓ Daily Maritime Crossword
20 / SEP / 2026 — archive puzzle. The world's first maritime-only crossword — 259-term nautical corpus.
Across
Down
Finished Sunday's puzzle? Try Saturday's previous too
You're looking at the 20 / 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 20 / SEP / 2026, so your time and hint count still rank against the global leaderboard.
If you solved this Sunday grid, don't stop — 19 / 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 — 19 / SEP / 2026
Newspaper-style: today's page publishes the full solution to Saturday's puzzle (15 maritime terms). Today's answers stay hidden until tomorrow — play the grid above, or replay Saturday's grid.
Across
- An arrangement of blocks and line that provides mechanical advantage (6) — TACKLE
- To hold, and keep tension on, the free end of a line while a winch grinder takes turns on the drum (4) — TAIL
- A pivoting keel that can be raised into a trunk to reduce draft and lowered to resist leeway (11) — CENTERBOARD
- To lay a rope down in neat, uniform loops for storage, or the stored loops themselves (4) — COIL
- A large, usually closable opening in the deck or coachroof for access, ventilation, or light (5) — HATCH
- To roll or gather up a sail so it stows neatly on a boom, stay, or inside a spar (4) — FURL
Down
- The weighted vertical fin beneath the hull that resists leeway and, through its ballast, keeps the boat upright; modern… (4) — KEEL
- The aft end of the vessel (5) — STERN
- The distance of open water, to windward, over which the wind has blown — the longer the fetch, the larger the waves (5) — FETCH
- The small triangular headsail set forward of the mast, tacked to the stemhead and hanked, bolted, or furled onto the forestay (3) — JIB
- The vertical distance from the waterline to the deepest part of the keel — the minimum water depth the vessel needs to float (5) — DRAFT
- A horizontal handle (or extension) fixed to the rudder stock, used to steer a smaller yacht (6) — TILLER
- To lead a line through a block, ring, or eye (5) — REEVE
- A traditional Arabian sailing craft, typically single- or twin-masted and carrying lateen sails, still seen throughout t… (4) — DHOW
- Toward, at, or behind the stern (3) — AFT
Great for studying COLREGs, VHF procedure, navigation marks, rigging and seamanship vocabulary — or just as a spoiler if you got stuck.