Cryptic crossword clue
Ship’s parts stuck, to begin with, in a gateway to the Dales 6

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word HAWSES

I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
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Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Ship’s parts" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case ship’s parts = hawses.
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 HAWSES mean?

HAWSES noun
  1. The part of the bow containing the hawseholes.
  2. A hawsehole or hawsepipe.
  3. The horizontal distance or area between an anchored vessel's bows and the actual position of her anchor(s).

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