Crossword Genius

Country where capital's neither opened nor closed (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

iran

'country' is the definition.
(Iran is an example)

'capital's neither opened nor closed' is the wordplay.
'capital' becomes 'tirana' (capital of Albania).
'neither opened nor closed' means to look at the middle letters (the opening and closing letters are removed).
The centre of 'tirana' is 'IRAN'.

'where' is the link.

(Other definitions for iran that I've seen before include "Country where the official language is Farsi" , "Modern name for Persia" , "Country to east of Iraq" , "Formerly Persia" , "Modern-day Persia" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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