Happy New Year, and many thanks for Mark Iredell for running the last ASCWC. For this one, let us look to January's leadership of the year, in a sense, and set a clue for the word

LEADER (6)

by January 14th, 11:59 p.m. your time.

Have fun,
Duke

LEADER:

In recital, a collection of Schubert's compositions is the making of a conductor (6)

Luciano

Column number one (6)

LEADER:

Luminary, heralded, appears unswathed, newborn (6)

Luciano

On Thursday, 13 January 2022 at 5:16:13 am UTC+11, Duke wrote:
> On Thursday, January 6, 2022 at 10:29:45 AM UTC-8, Duke wrote:
> > Happy New Year, and many thanks for Mark Iredell for running the last ASCWC. For this one, let us look to January's leadership of the year, in a sense, and set a clue for the word
> >
> > LEADER (6)

Electrical cable connected to ageing royal's pacemaker (6)

The best of us are led astray (6)

and a couple of bonuses:

Maybe the king came before the queen (6)

Look around commercial van (6)

--
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Here are the clues for LEADER. I think I've figured them out, but I've been wrong before. Comments welcome before I undertake the task of judging.

From Luciano:
In recital, a collection of Schubert's compositions is the making of a conductor (6)
Homonym ("in recital") of "lieder"; def. is "conductor"

Luminary, heralded, appears unswathed, newborn (6)
Anagram ("newborn") of hERALDEd; def. is "luminary"

From David A:
Column number one (6)
Double def.: the "number one" in a column of soldiers, say, would be the leader; also the "leader" in a newspaper might be found in column number one

From Steve:
Electrical cable connected to ageing royal's pacemaker (6)
LEAD connected to ER; def. is "pacemaker" (as in "pace setter")

From Bob Nichols:
The best of us are led astray (6)
Anagram ("astray") of ARE LED; def. is "the best of us"

Maybe the king came before the queen (6)
LEAD before ER; def. is "maybe the king"

Look around commercial van (6)
LEER around AD; def. is "van"

Thanks to four entrants for producing a uniformly strong set of clues for LEADER. The winner is, as is customary, revealed at the end.

From Luciano:
In recital, a collection of Schubert's compositions is the making of a conductor (6)
Homonym ("in recital") of "lieder"; def. is "conductor"

Great surface that keeps the music theme all the way through. Nice

Luminary, heralded, appears unswathed, newborn (6)
Anagram ("newborn") of hERALDEd; def. is "luminary"

Neat find with a slightly Christmas-y surface.

From David A:
Column number one (6)
Double def.: the "number one" in a column of soldiers, say, would be the leader; also the "leader" in a newspaper might be found in column number one

Good one. I like "number one" as an adjectival phrase. The two meanings of column overlap but aren't identical.

From Steve:
Electrical cable connected to ageing royal's pacemaker (6)
LEAD connected to ER; def. is "pacemaker" (as in "pace setter")

Another very nice one, with "pacemaker" a good definition that fits perfectly.

From Bob Nichols:
The best of us are led astray (6)
Anagram ("astray") of ARE LED; def. is "the best of us"

Straightforward but verrrrry smooth. Nice.

Maybe the king came before the queen (6)
LEAD before ER; def. is "maybe the king"

I think the verb should be "comes" since "came" seems to me to give "led." But the editor would have caught that. With that, another good clue.

Look around commercial van (6)
LEER around AD; def. is "van"

"Commercial van" is a sweet phrase here. Very good clue.

And the winner is...Bob, for his van inspector. He put those last two in as bonuses, but under recent rules we've been taking up to three clues per player, so there you have it. Congratulations!

I hope you enjoyed ASCWC 269.

Duke

On Tuesday, 25 January 2022 at 8:45:56 am UTC+11, Duke wrote:

> From Bob Nichols:
> The best of us are led astray (6)
> Anagram ("astray") of ARE LED; def. is "the best of us"
> Straightforward but verrrrry smooth. Nice.
> Maybe the king came before the queen (6)
> LEAD before ER; def. is "maybe the king"
> I think the verb should be "comes" since "came" seems to me to give "led." But the editor would have caught that. With that, another good clue.

It's not a verb. A came is a piece of lead used to frame a pane of glass in a leadlight window.

On Monday, January 24, 2022 at 2:11:04 PM UTC-8, Steve = : ^ ) wrote:
> On Tuesday, 25 January 2022 at 8:45:56 am UTC+11, Duke wrote:
>
> > From Bob Nichols:
> > The best of us are led astray (6)
> > Anagram ("astray") of ARE LED; def. is "the best of us"
> > Straightforward but verrrrry smooth. Nice.
> > Maybe the king came before the queen (6)
> > LEAD before ER; def. is "maybe the king"
> > I think the verb should be "comes" since "came" seems to me to give "led." But the editor would have caught that. With that, another good clue.
> It's not a verb. A came is a piece of lead used to frame a pane of glass in a leadlight window.

So it is. My apologies.