Crack seen in a particular ship? (3-5)
I believe the answer is:
one-liner
'crack' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a particular ship?' is the wordplay.
'a particular' becomes 'one'.
'ship?' becomes 'liner' (liner is a kind of ship).
'one'+'liner'='ONE-LINER'
'seen in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for one-liner that I've seen before include "Witty remark contained in a single sentence" , "Short joke - witty remark" , "Witty remark consisting of a short sentence" , "Quick gag" , "Quick quip?" .)