Why exactly does the tail pick up more ice? Its running in the clear well above the fuselage. It seems that it should accumulate ice in the same proportion to the rest of the airplane.

Furthermore, to recover, you are supposed to pitch up. However, if the tail is stalled anyway, depending on the depth of the stall there may be little authority left with which to push the tail down. Retracting flaps makes sense from the viewpoint that the center of pressure is forced forward as compared to its relative aft position when flaps are extended. The forward CoP puts more weight on the tail helping to push it down. Reducing thrust could work, but this is more a factor of where the engines are located relative to the lateral axis right? On a rear engine mounted A/C (not the Q, I know) with a T-tail, adding or reducing thrust would have little effect on pitch besides merely airspeed changes resulting.