Crossword Genius

50 with a king by unearthly American feature (4,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lake erie

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'american feature' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how they can define each other.

'50 with a king by unearthly' is the wordplay.
'50' becomes 'l' (Roman numeral).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'a king by' becomes 'ak' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'unearthly' becomes 'eerie' (I've seen this before).
'l'+'ak'+'eerie'='LAKE ERIE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lake erie that I've seen before include "lots of water" , "One of the five Great ones in North America" .)

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