Afloat Xword 54

Compiled by John Gray 

Athwart

1 Electronic equipment consisting of a device used to connect computers to a telephone (5) 
4 Hinged cots fitted to many small yachts, where fixed bunks are too big to fit (4,4) 
9 A twin-hulled racing yacht usually rigged with a Bermudan mainsail and jib (9) 
10 A port in southern Sweden facing “The Sound” opposite Copenhagen (5) 
11 Collective name for the plant, from the fibres of which the best natural ropes are made (5) 
12 To describe a flashing light that is lit for longer periods than when it is unlit (9) 
13 Sailors slang term for the wealthy, who sailed Port Out Starboard Home to avoid the sun on P&O liners (4) 
15 Sailing craft rigged with fore-and-aft sails supported on gaffs (4,6) 
18 All correct, when above the deck and therefore open and visible (5,5) 
19 The area in a port or harbour totally enclosed by piers or wharves (4) 
22 Distances north or south of the equator expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds of arc (9) 
24 Issue or terminate (in a specified way, state, etc.); “to result in tragedy” (5) 
26 A large edible ray – is also a seaman who is always in trouble (5) 
27 Means of leading ropes in convenient directions, as through eyes or cringles (9) 
28 In Greek legend the king of Ithaca, hero of the Odyssey (8) 
29 Germany’s best known light cruiser of 3,600 tons, sunk by the Australian light cruiser Sydney (5) 

Below

1 A merchant vessel, usually a tanker, or grain ship, fitted during wartime with a temporary flying deck to accommodate land-based aircraft (7) 
2 Facts or figures taken from observations or charts to make decisions, or compass bearings (5) 
3 Mom is a bit mixed up about her yellow-flowered evergreen Australasian tree – it’s the ‘Silver Wattle’ (6) 
4 A form of sailing directions used in Mediterranean in the 12th-15th centuries as a navigational aid (9) 
5 Overwhelming fear – maybe when one is capsizing (5) 
6 A sailor will tell you a block is said to do this when its sheave squeaks (8) 
7 What you give to one when you give them a scolding lengthy rebuke; a good lecture (7,2) 
8 Said of a yacht, which has been forced off a sand bar by the excessive use of her sails to help drive her off (6) 
14 Surname of the Lieutenant who in 1797 named the outcrop at the entrance to Newcastle Harbour “Hacking Island” (now Nobby’s) (9) 
16 Any sails set forward of the mast, except spinnakers (4,5) 
17 Said of a yacht, which has a tendency to turn into the wind (8) 
18 International one-man catamaran (open design), sail area 13.945 sq m. including mast (1,5) 
20 An internal keel in the form of a stringer bolted on to the keel to provide additional strength (7) 
21 Name given to the rim section of a ship’s wheel – sounds like one of the boys (6) 
23 Surname of English novelist, author of Robinson Crusoe (5) 
25 Mariner’s term to maintain or sail in a certain same track or course (5)

For the Solution to Xword 54, click here