Vessel blocking that road to the west

The answer to “Vessel blocking that road to the west” in the The Times Quick Cryptic crossword is AORTA — a 5-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Times Quick Cryptic crossword on August 13, 2026, a Thursday puzzle, at 20-Across. Below you'll find why that fill fits, every other answer we've recorded for this clue, and links into the puzzle it came from.

“Vessel blocking that road to the west” answer

AORTA (5 letters)

Reveal the solution one letter at a time with the tiles above if you'd rather nudge yourself toward it than see the whole word at once. Just want it outright? The answer is AORTA.

What does AORTA mean?

Reading the plain dictionary sense of AORTA is often the fastest way to see why it answers this clue.

When else has “Vessel blocking that road to the west” appeared?

The Times Quick Cryptic reuses clues across dates, sometimes with a different answer depending on the grid. Here's where this exact clue has shown up, and what the answer was each time — handy when you're checking whether today's fill is the only one.

August 13, 2026 (most recent) → AORTA. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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