Cryptic crossword clue
Loveless greeting in northern port 4

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 letter word HULL

I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
H
U
L
L

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "northern port" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case northern port = hull.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

What does HULL mean?

HULL noun
  1. The outer covering of a fruit or seed.
  2. Any covering.
HULL verb
  1. To remove the outer covering of a fruit or seed.
HULL noun
  1. The body or frame of a vessel, such as a ship or plane.
  2. (of a set A) The smallest set that possesses a particular property (such as convexity) and contains every point of A; slightly more formally, the intersection of all sets which possess the specified property and of which A is a subset.
HULL verb
  1. To drift; to be carried by the impetus of wind or water on the ship's hull alone, with sails furled.
  2. To hit (a ship) in the hull with cannon fire etc.

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