> the function lookup done for 'LIST isn't in the lexical scope; it's done inside the mapcar function in another scope, or maybe in a lower-level function like

> the function lookup done for 'LIST isn't in the lexical scope; it's done inside the mapcar function in another scope, or maybe in a lower-level function like funcall or apply Ah, OK, I think that's the key part I was missing ... that explanation also accounts for what I saw in the REPL ... thanks again! :)