Ximenean

comparative more Ximenean · superlative most Ximenean

1. crosswordingOf or pertaining to the cryptic crossword style used and defined by "Ximenes" (Derrick Somerset Macnutt), whereby an acceptable cryptic clue must have a precise definition, a fair and strictly grammatical subsidiary indication, and no redundant elements beyond these.

   Don Manley calls these non-Ximenean clues “wild and woolly” and worries they're far too common.

   2009, Dean Olsher, From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords

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   For example, I did not follow a Ximenean rule that a member of a larger class cannot be used to define the class itself (one poster brought this up).

   1992 July 28, Warren Usui, “ACC 5 -- The rest of the clues.”, in rec.puzzles.crosswords (Usenet)

   […] the Ximenean camp […] makes up the hardliners, setters and solvers who insist on every clue being thoroughly sound in both grammar and execution […]

   2012, David Astle, Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words

2. Pertaining to the religious teachings and publications of Ximénez de Cisneros.

   1911, Arthur Cayley Headlam (Bishop of Gloucester), The Church Quarterly Review The Orationale is a MS. of the highest antiquity, bearing throughout a character consistent with an older date than the MSS. which underlie the Ximenean Missal and Breviary

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   Speaking of the Ximenean Polyglot, Prescott calls it a “noble monument of piety, learning, and munificence, which entitles its author to the gratitude of the whole Christian world.”—Ferd. 5r Isab., Vol. III., p. 289.

   1851, Paul MACLACHLAN, The Bible: Its Use and Abuse; Or, an Inquiry Into the Results of the Respective Doctrines of the Catholic and Protestant Churches, Relative to the Interpretation of the Word of God, page 186

   In the oldest Mozarabic service-book (the Orationale Gothicum) the series of services of instruction for the Compétents (Missae Cate- chumenorum) is confined to three weeks, and not, as in the Ximenean printed service-books, extended to six weeks.

   1909, The Journal of Theological Studies

plural Ximeneans

1. A cruciverbalist or crossword fan who shares Ximenes's beliefs about fair crossword setting.

   The home was in Leatherhead, which Ximeneans would despise as a signal for L, but let's keep with the action.

   2012, David Astle, Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words, →ISBN

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   I managed to complete a puzzle and as Ximenes enjoyed solving it, and as I thought he might welcome the opportunity to enter a clue writing contest himself, I decided to send the puzzle to a few more Ximeneans and set the name of the author of the quotation as the word to be clued.

   1977, 'Apex', "Stephen Sondheim 'The Lyric Poet of Broadway' ... and Crossword Composer?", Games & Puzzles, page xlix

   As Bunthorne puts it, 'Of course, I am a Ximenean. But I know that if it weren't for [Araucaria] pushing the boundaries, the rest of us wouldn't get anywhere at all.'

   2013, Sandy Balfour, Pretty Girl In Crimson Rose, →ISBN