Crossword Genius

Old American never embraced by woman, it’s implied? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mayan

'old american' is the definition.
(the Mayans were an ancient American civilisation)

'never embraced by woman it's implied?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'woman' could be 'may' (woman's name) and 'may' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'an' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Other definitions for mayan that I've seen before include "from an ancient culture" , "Central American Indian language" , "Relating to a central American civilisation" , "Relating to a people of Central America" , "of a bygone civilisation" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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