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Definition 2024
Ximenean
Ximenean
English
Adjective
Ximenean (comparative more Ximenean, superlative most Ximenean)
- Of 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.
- 1992 July 28, Warren Usui, “ACC 5 -- The rest of the clues.”, in rec.puzzles.crosswords, Usenet:
- 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).
- 2009, Dean Olsher, From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords
- Don Manley calls these non-Ximenean clues “wild and woolly” and worries they're far too common.
- 2012, David Astle, Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words
- […] the Ximenean camp […] makes up the hardliners, setters and solvers who insist on every clue being thoroughly sound in both grammar and execution […]
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- Pertaining to the religious teachings and publications of Ximénes de Cisneros.
- 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
- 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.
- 1909, The Journal of Theological Studies
- 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.
- 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
- 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
Noun
Ximenean (plural Ximeneans)
- A cruciverbalist or crossword fan who shares Ximenes's beliefs about fair crossword setting.
- 1977, 'Apex', "Stephen Sondheim 'The Lyric Poet of Broadway' ... and Crossword Composer?", Games & Puzzles, page xlix:
- 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.
- David Astle (2012) Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words, ISBN 1847658164: “The home was in Leatherhead, which Ximeneans would despise as a signal for L, but let's keep with the action.”
- Sandy Balfour (2013) Pretty Girl In Crimson Rose, ISBN 1782394796: “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.'”
- 1977, 'Apex', "Stephen Sondheim 'The Lyric Poet of Broadway' ... and Crossword Composer?", Games & Puzzles, page xlix: