jeff6286 wrote:UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Listed in 1983, this complex finished c. 1650 features inland semiprecious stones & Arabic calligraphy.
I see no reason for the writers to have chosen to include the word
Arabic in this clue other than either ignorance of (as a potential incorrect response in this context) or intentional neg-bait towards the Blue Mosque (listed in 1985, finished 1616).
I think the first-order fact in this clue is the build date. And while I don't think the writers need to go out of their way to steer people away from responses that are off by hundreds (Alhambra) or more than a thousand (Hagia Sophia, Kaaba) years (so thankfully it didn't negatively affect any of the contestants), I do think it's reasonable for the writers to make an effort to do so for a response that is off by ~ 34 years. Or, if they're not going to try to steer people away from a so-close incorrect response, at least try to avoid steering them towards it.
But I think the word
Arabic is more likely to steer people (who are familiar with it) towards the Blue Mosque than away from it, as Turkey is much closer (geographically and culturally) to the Arabic countries than India is.
And it wasn't necessary to use the word
Arabic -- the writers could have chosen to describe the decorations as
Islamic calligraphy (
Islamic being, I believe, a broader term than
Arabic) or even just
calligraphy (which would imply Islam without steering people as explicitly towards the Middle East). Or, Instead of referencing the calligraphy at all, they could have chosen to reference some other obscure-but-defining aspect of the Taj Mahal that includes a word like
Persian or
Khan to try steer people away from the Blue Mosque without steering them too obviously towards the Taj Mahal (as
Mughul,
wife, or
Agra would).