tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869983234842507044.post7919392136555271731..comments2024-03-29T07:26:22.640-04:00Comments on Horace and Frances discuss the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Sunday, November 25, 2018, Joon PahkHorace Fawleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04676932991883111336noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869983234842507044.post-62296491168726504072018-11-25T16:29:16.559-05:002018-11-25T16:29:16.559-05:00Eh. I too expected Tirana, but had no doubt in my ...Eh. I too expected Tirana, but had no doubt in my mind that it had to be ENO, so accepted there must be another spelling of the capital.Colum Amoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15026647589873845732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7869983234842507044.post-5358930746307492242018-11-25T11:19:53.395-05:002018-11-25T11:19:53.395-05:00OK, I call foul. I finished with one error, except...OK, I call foul. I finished with one error, except not really. Yes, I was pretty sure that Brian Eno worked with David Bowie. But more sure, was I, that Tirana is the capital of Albania (one of two world capitals, incidentally, that includes the name of *another* country within its English spelling. The other, if you're curious, is Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. Gaborone, the capital of Botswana comes very close to Gabon, but not quite.) that I left it as such. Google it, what do you get? Tirana, capital of Albania. Google "Tirane," what do you get? You get "Did you mean: Tirana" with the first entry still as the wikipedia post for Tirana, capital of Albania. OK, eventually you can learn that the Albanian spelling for Tirana is Tirane with an umlaut over the e. But nowhere do I find Tirane recognized as an English alternative to Tirana. OK, it's fair game to have foreign spellings in a puzzle, but then, wouldn't there, shouldn't there be a clue in the clue that matches the syntax? Whoa, it could be hidden, of course, like for "Capital of Cuba" the answer could be HABANA, because Spanish for "capital" is "capital." But that doesn't work for Albanian. Google translate says it would be Kapital. So "Kapital of Albania" would be Tirane. Any dissenters?Icarusfobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01312667388878598706noreply@blogger.com