(C) temerity, (F) perspicacious, and (G) lionized are the credited responses.

The key words and phrases are lacks, take on, no matter, will never, and great satirist.

Blank (i)

(C) temerity means boldness or rashness. It fits the sentence because it is logical that an author would need something like bravery to take on venerable public figures.

(A) timorousness does not fit because it means fearfulness or timidity. The phrase take on implies that the opposite of timorousness, something like bravery, is necessary in order to be a great satirist.

(B) contrition means remorse or penitence. Having remorse does not prepare one to take on venerable public figures ideas that have no relation to each other.

Blank (ii)

(F) perspicacious means discerning or showing keen perception or judgment. This term fits the sentence because it has a positive connotation and it links up with no matter how to establish a good quality that is superseded by the author’s fear of taking on venerable public figures.

(D) ignominious means humiliating,
discreditable, or contemptible. The phrase no matter how in the sentence implies something good about the author’s social critiques, so this choice would contradict the meaning of the whole.

(E) harrowing means terrifying or disturbing. This adjective carries too extreme a denotation for this context: social critiques are usually meant to disturb but not necessarily to terrify.

Blank (iii)

(G) lionized means treated as a celebrity. This fits the sentence because it connects the author’s deficiency as stated in the first part of the sentence with the negative consequence denoted by will never be.

(H) gainsaid means contradicted or denied. The word in the third blank must convey a positive action, so this choice doesn’t work.

(I) tainted means contaminated with a negative quality, so it would be nonsensical to say that someone is tainted as something great.

Helpful Hint

If you’re unfamiliar with the words provided as answer choices, try to think of familiar base versions of those words: for example, timid in timorousness, contrite in contrition, and ignoble in ignominious.