I fall on the "X means something" side of the debate, but agree with the several posters who contend that the X is not critical to unlocking IJ. This is, in my opinion, an intertextual reference (I use that term a lot, I know). Pynchon is considered a major influence on DFW. Broom of the System, for example, is closely linked to Crying of Lot 49 (There's a really blatant use of Wile E. Coyote's image in BoS that's only marginally different from how Pynchon brings him in.). In Pynchon's book V. the letter appears over and over, becoming everything under Pynchon's sun. I won't claim to understand V. or what the letter signifies in that book, but as far as a recurring letter manifesting in all sorts of forms, I think this is the inspiration for DFW's X.
We should take it as a reminder that DFW isn't just writing a book here out of his own imaginings, he's taking the library he's read and putting it into IJ. Hamlet, CoL49, V., Ulysses, Ratner's Star, Gulliver's Travels, Greek Mythology, The Watchmen: there's blatant pieces of each in here and who knows how many more. This book is encyclopedic in more ways than 5 (5 being an entirely arbitrary number I threw out there.).
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) theory about X?