Crossword Genius

John or Barbara? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

major

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'barbara?' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'john or' is the wordplay.
'john' becomes 'maj' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'maj'+'or'='MAJOR'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for major that I've seen before include "Large" , "Not minor" , "Conservative PM" , "Important - ex-PM" , "1 down's predecessor" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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