Solution:
'Defer to someone/something' means 'to let another person decide, or to accept another person's opinion, usually because you respect the knowledge or experience of that person'.
1829. The music is pleasing . . . . . . . . my ears.
Solution:
When sentence talks about how things 'appear' to you, preposition 'to' shall be used. When sentence talks about how things 'really are', preposition 'for' shall be used. Here feeling of speaker towards music has been detected. Hence 'to' is the correct answer.
1830. I am writing this essay . . . . . . . . blue ink.
Solution:
'On' is used to show that something is in a position above something else and touching it. Here 'book' is above the surface of the 'table' and touching it.