After Georgio's cafe got a favorable review in a travel guidebook, the number of tourists eating there were in excess of the number of local customers going regularly.

(A) were in excess of the number of local customers ----the number … were-- SV number mismatch

(B) had an excess over the local customers who were --"had an excess" is inappropriate

(C) exceeded the local customers who were ---comparison between the number and human beings

(D) numbered more than the local customers --' the number… numbered' is redundant

E) Exceeded the number of local customers --- the number of tourists //the number of local customers.
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the number (E) exceeded the number of local customers
proper comparison
You cannot say the number exceeded the local customers because this would mean a literal number ex. 5 is more than some human beings.

Just wanted to verify my understanding:
A : Wrong ==> "Number of" is Singular . So we can get rid of Option A as it has "were". SV doesn't agree. Additionally "In Excess" sounded weird when I was looking at the meaning of the whole sentence. So my question is , if the SV matched in this case .. can it be a right answer or my logic of eliminating it because of meaning confusion is correct?
B : Number ==> had an excess over the local customer is wrong. Number cannot be in excess over customers themselves.
C : Number cannot exceed the local customer itself. It has to exceed the number of local customer
D : Number of Customers ==> Numbered is wrong
E: Correct for the reason mentioned in C