--- "AThompson" wrote:

> > "en þó er þá helst eftir að spyrja er á ferli hafa verið í
> > nótt."
> I read the verb, once I had untangled the word order, to be að

spyrja

> eftir + acc (sort of equivalent to the English, `to ask after

someone',

> ie `to ask for news of someone')...but if, as you say, the verb is

að

> spyrja + acc, then what function is eftir performing in the

sentence?

I am not familiar with your "spyrja eftir + acc" - have you
found this documented somewhere? In my experience, "spyrja
eftir" can only take the dative: "spyrja eftir einhverjum" =
"ask about someone, ask after someone's whereabouts".

I say:

Ég spurði þá = I asked them, I enquired of them

but:

Ég spurði eftir þeim = I asked about them, their whereabouts

You could emend the sentence, if you wanted:

"en þó er ÞEIM helst eftir að spyrja ..."

in which case it would mean something closer to what you
want: "... but it would be best for you to enquire after
them, about their whereabouts ...", but it wouldn't make
for very good continuity, in my opinion:

A: I'm looking for a horse.
B: Then you'd better ask about the guy who was here last
night.
A: Who is he?

It seems to me to be preferable to read as follows, and
the accusative of "þá" tells me this is correct:

A: I'm looking for a horse.
B: Then you'd better ask the guy who was here last night
about it (i.e. the horse).
A: Who is he?

"Eftir" is basically a preposition that turns into an adverb,
because the object is understood. You may find it easier to
understand the structure of the sentence if you add the object:

"en þó er þá helst eftir KLÁRNUM að spyrja er á ferli hafa
verið í nótt."

And even easier, if you order the words in a slightly more
"logical" way:

"en þó er helst að spyrja þá, er á ferli hafa verið í nótt,
eftir klárnum."

I hope I have helped rather than bamboozled.

Best wishes,
Eysteinn