not since

[Ostap]

Fresh prints, not since
Watson and Mr. Holmes
Have two minds so fine
Looked under every stone
timecode

Hello everyone. How does "not since" work in these lyrics, what is it related to?

 

[5jj]

Perhaps the meaning becomes clearer if we change a couple of things:

Two such fine minds have not looked under every stone since Watson and Mr Holmes..

 

[Tdol]

Mind you, Watson was not generally regarded as such a great mind.

 

[Rover_KE]

... and certainly should not be named before Holmes for any reason.

 

[Ostap]

... and certainly should not be named before Holmes for any reason.

It seems that keeping the rhyme and rhythm was more important for them.

 

[probus]

Watson's inferiority is shown by the fact that Holmes gets the honorific Mr and Watson doesn't, (nor his title Dr.)

 

[Skrej]

If you parse the lyrics a bit differently (the way they're actually delivered):

fresh prints
not since
Watson and Mr. Holmes
have two minds
so fine
looked under every stone

You get a loose AABCCB rhyme scheme (or at least interior rhyme scheme), so that likely explains the name order.