I dunno, the Wikipedia pages for Paris and Sophia (Sofias are listed there) don't seem to be hugely disproportionate in their lists... lot of male Parises and fictional Sofias though.
By the time I remembered "Bay of Biscay", I only had 0:01 left. One full second of unadulterated forlorn resignation. So close to perfection, yet so far. :-(
The Northern Ireland clue should be changed. It is only Derry in the Republic of Ireland and to Republicans/nationalists in Northern Ireland. The answer is the official name and it is located in a county of the same name in the United Kingdom so it should be the other way around
Belgorod has a greater population than Belfast (by city proper), so what exactly counts as a 'major' city? It's true that Belfast would be more well known than Belgorod, but perhaps it would be better if Belgorod was accepted as a type-in for Belfast?
Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland, so maybe that's what makes it more major? Or maybe because it's been such a part of the history with the Troubles. Or maybe the Quizmaster is a huge fan of Titanic, since that's where it was built.
Belgorod is the capital of Belgorod Oblast, so that can't be the distinction. And since these comments were written, it's certainly been in a troubled region and in the news a lot lately.
citypopulation.de doesn't list an urban area for Belgorod, but it does for Belfast, so I suspect the urban area for Belfast is larger than that of Belgorod. I'm not sure a difference of 300k people really makes an obvious distinction for "major", though.
QM should probably accept randomdude's suggestion or qualify what "major" means in the question context.
Literally - "You keep using that word - I do not think it mean what you think it means." https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-continent-is-cyprus-in.html
You have to give us our wins where we can get them lol. I didn't even get Belfast, I hate letter-based questions haha (also, I wouldn't have thought so but it's actually about 14% by area, despite the mere 3% by population)
That's a simplification at best; it's not really reflective of reality. In practice people in Northern Ireland normally call the city Derry unless they are Making A Point. Most institutions in the city (Derry City football club, City of Derry Airport, City of Derry Rugby Football Club, City of Derry Golf Club, Derry City and Strabane District Council, etc.) use "Derry", as do most of its inhabitants.
citypopulation.de doesn't list an urban area for Belgorod, but it does for Belfast, so I suspect the urban area for Belfast is larger than that of Belgorod. I'm not sure a difference of 300k people really makes an obvious distinction for "major", though.
QM should probably accept randomdude's suggestion or qualify what "major" means in the question context.