Fine dandy old slang / SAT 5-19-18 / Geological feature of Zion National Park / ES game company that produced Yahtzee Bingo / Fruits also known as bottle gourds / Slight upward curves as in roads beams / River of central Germany

Constructor: John Guzzetta

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (w/ solve-upon-waking difficulty rating adjustment) (8:45)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: SLOT CANYON (1A: Geological feature of Zion National Park) —

A slot canyon is a narrow canyon, formed by the wear of water rushing through rock. A slot canyon is significantly deeper than it is wide. Some slot canyons can measure less than 1 metre (3 ft) across at the top but drop more than 30 metres (100 ft) to the floor of the canyon.

Many slot canyons are formed in sandstone and limestone rock, although slot canyons in other rock types such as granite and basalt are possible. Even in sandstone and limestone, only a very small number of creeks will form slot canyons due to a combination of the particular characteristics of the rock and regional rainfall. (wikipedia)

Trying to figure out why I found this one so flavorless. Possibly because some of the answers meant nothing to me. In fact, the first two long ones are things that maybe I've heard of ... but not really. I ended up inferring them from their word parts (starting from the "Z" that I got from my one gimme up there, AZARIA (6D: Voice actor Hank)). But as far as their being actual things ... I mean, IF YOU SAY SO (best answer in the grid, in my humble as well as honest opinion). OKE was oke-ward but also something I got because of the olde-timey crime fiction that I sometimes read. BRAE I got because I solved crosswords in the early '90s when crosswordese reigned (and rained!). So there's some stuff I just don't know that is also somehow not exciting to learn (you bait hooks with worms ... oh, those WORMS are RED? You don't say ...) (24A: Common bait for fishing). And then the trivia. E.W. LOWE!? Sure, OKE, why not? (18A: E.S. ___, game company that produced Yahtzee and Bingo). This would all be more tolerable if there were more exciting moments, or much much much more entertaining cluing to give the puzzle some spark. As it is, the "spark" (if you want to call it that) comes from the ejaculatory imagery at 14D: One making deposits in a bank? (SPERM DONOR). I have no problem with that answer, but the clue getting cutesy with jacking off, that I'm less fond of. Also why does that clue even have a "?" on it? Are they not officially called "deposits," is that it? It's a sperm bank, you leave your semen there, right? Is this too much? Had your breakfast yet? Anyway, the clue doesn't need the "?" and isn't particularly clever in the first place.


But mostly the grid is fine, actually. It just doesn't do anything for me. CALABASHES? (25D: Fruits also known as bottle gourds) Again, I think I've heard of those, but I can't even picture them. Clearly I'm just having wavelength issues today. I found most of this puzzle pretty easy. Got all knotted up in the NE with ODER for EDER and thus TOTTER for TEETER and all kinds of RED fish (shad! sole!) before WORM. Oh, look, the ODER *is* a German river—so I'm not totally insane. What the bleep is EDER??? Aha, it's just a different ... German ... river. Man, crosswordese is delightful. Note: Leon EDEL wrote a five-volume of Henry James, and trust me, some day, you will need that information. EVEL Knievel, I assume you're already familiar with. Had DOES before ROES (44A: Some deer) and NO IDEA before NO CLUE (41D: "I haven't the foggiest!"), so that made things somewhat rough in the SE. But overall, pretty breezy. Just not nearly zingy or WACKY enough.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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