There was yet another error :D 'variable' and 'expr' are not optional. <code class="syntax def"> (<span>arg-ands</span> [common <var class="opt">caller</var>] ([<var class="opt">caller</var>] <var>variable</var> <var>expr</var> <var class="rest">...</var>) <var class="rest">...</var>) </code> Here's the form with no markup: (arg-ands [common <caller>] ([<caller>] <variable> <expr> ...) ...) If I'm reading this right, 'common' is a quoted symbol and rest of the arguments are placeholders. 'caller' would be marked as <var class="opt"> because it's inside an optional group even when it's preceded in that group by 'common'.