Coarsest sort of ships? (8)
I believe the answer is:
coasters
'ships?' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'coarsest sort' is the wordplay.
'sort' indicates an anagram.
'coarsest' is an anagram of 'COASTERS'.
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for coasters that I've seen before include "Small mats for Socrates" , "Merchant ships with a limited range of operation" , "Small table-mats" .)