LAT Fri. 1/1/10 Andy E. Sawyer

[magus]

 
Activist with Raiders    NADER [not the football team, political activists]
Hot flower    MOLTENLAVA  [not the plant]
It sucks   VACUUM
Gun in a garage   REV [as in gun the engine]

 
AMOI
ANO

 
AULD LANG SYNE is the theme wherein there is a slight mispronunciation in honor of New Year's Day: AULD = old; LANG = long; and SYNE = since.  It appears to me that SYNE and since are much further apart phonically than the first two.  I would have expected SYNE to go with sign since they are homophones anyway.  But perhaps Andy did not want to have the imbalance of two "punny" pairs with one that is not a pun but a homophone. SYNELANGUAGE would have fit.
By the way, auld lang syne, from the Scots, is translated to mean "good old times."  However, auld = old; lang = long; syne = since.  I don't know where the "good" comes in since the expression denotes "times long since [past]."  And does it make sense to forget the good times and acquaintances of the past?

[SJS]

And does it make sense to forget the good times and acquaintances of the past?

What do  you mean by this?

I agree with you about syne/since - I thought that was too big a phonetic difference to work and it actually made me wonder if I might be pronouncing "syne" incorrectly all these years! 

I can't decide if I would give a smilie to "hot flower" or not... I guess it is my fault for not considering the less-used pronunciation of the word, but on the other hand, "flower" (pronounced as "one that flows") is virtually NEVER used, as far as I know (outside of a crossword misdirection, of course).  I mean, if someone clued FLASHER as "Shower", I'd have to give it the thumbs down!

[magus]

SJS---

I guess it depends on how one interprets the word Should.  I have always thought it to mean that we should forget auld acquiantance and the days of auld lang syne:  that is the past --- on New Year's one should look forward.  It is hard to square that interpretation of those words if auld lang syne means the good times of the past.  So I asked if it makes sense to forget the good times and friends.

As for flower, I agree with you: we just don't use it to to mean one that flows.  But flower tricked me at first, and I appreciate the constructor's having done that, given that flower could mean, denotatively at least, something that flows.   

I suppose it ultimately amounts to taste.  You would oppose using shower to clue FLASHER, but these are Xwords, after all, and sometimes points are stretched for the fun of it.  I see puzzles as games, not tests, and so some give of this type seems worth allowing in order to create that "Ah-ha" phenomenon.

magus

[SJS]

Oh, I see.

I've heard analyses of the Burns poem before and I favor the opposite interpretation:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne ?

    CHORUS:
    For auld lang syne, my jo,
    for auld lang syne,
    we

[magus]

Thanks, I like that Burns interpretation.  Needs the question mark, doesn't it.