Curious as to what happens when the cue ball is frozen to a corner rail and the incoming player cannot directly shoot at the next appropriate ball? Rules say the cushion cannot snooker CB. Does he HAVE to hit ball on? What if he misses/fouls? Does the next players have the option to have balls replaced? Does the miss rule come into play?
Seems there are several variables that might come into play for both players. I guess my confusion lies with what the rules actually mean and what happens next.
I think you are trying to read too much into this situation; there is no special rule that applies. I will address two variations of this:
First, just a regular shot had been played, no foul, and the cue ball happens to come to the position you describe. It may be that a new striker is coming to the table, or it may be that the current striker potted a ball and left himself in this sorry state of affairs...doesn't matter. This position used to be known as being "angled" (sort of a parallel to being "snookered"; that is, one is "snookered" if the object ball is covered by another ball, one is "angled" if the object ball is covered by the cushion like this). Of course, the next stroke must be played at a ball on, just like always. If contact is not made, it is a foul, like always. Miss rule? Of course, professionally, it is a miss if contact is not made, like always. There should be no confusion here.
A similar but different scenario that is usually confusing to the uninitiated is if this angled position occurs following a foul stroke. Different than above paragraph, say the striker committed a foul and left the incoming striker in this angled position. Where most get confused is that again, many think some sort of special rule applies. There are not any special rules; all the standard rules cover the situation. So the incoming player has the usual options: he can take the shot himself and must make contact with the ball on, as always, or he can pass the shot back to the player that committed the foul. (There is also the chance that the original foul stroke was also a foul and a miss, so he can choose that option if it is available and have the balls put back though being angled like this is probably a worse position so chances are the incoming striker will pass the shot back to the fouling player in this angled position.)
That is it, no special rules.
Except there is one more possibility...what if the foul was committed as above and the balls were left in the angled position, AND the result also possibly left a Free Ball situation? This can get VERY confusing for most, but it is actually pretty simple. (This is easiest to describe if only colors are left and so the ball on must be Yellow...) Say Yellow is ball on and a foul has been committed, AND the balls came to rest in this angled position. So far, the incoming player can either take the shot and must play at Yellow or give it back to the fouler who must play at Yellow. Now, is a Free Ball a possibility? Easy...just completely eliminate the interfering cushion. Pretend like you could literally take a machete and hack away at the cushion so it is not there anymore. Can you run the cue ball in a straight line so that you could clip either edge of the Yellow? (In other words, are there any BALLS that would be snookering the Yellow if the cushion weren't there?) If the Yellow were to be available like this (disregarding the cushion), no Free Ball. If the Yellow were to be "snookered" like this (cannot clip both edges of Yellow with your cue ball, disregarding the cushion), then the incoming striker has the additional option of a Free Ball. So in other words, it is possible to be BOTH angled and snookered. If only angled, no Free Ball. If angled AND snookered, Free Ball.
It really is just the normal rules. The only odd part about it is imagining the cushion is not there in order to determine if it should be a Free Ball or not. If you are a golfer, maybe it might help to kind of think of it like the "immovable obstruction" rule in golf. If your golf ball comes to rest on a manhole cover, you can just pick it up and a free drop (no closer to the hole), but you are basically just pretending like the manhole cover wasn't there. Likewise, to determine Free Ball or not, just pretend like the cushion isn't even there (but you don't get a "free drop"
). Even if the cue ball was angled in a Baulk corner pocket and the Yellow rattled and was sitting in the jaws of the Black end corner pocket and so angled by twelve feet worth of cushion in between, there would be no Free Ball unless one of the other balls were "snookering" because it was pretty much lined up right along that same cushion somewhere.