I can’t buy into the down wash idea either. My Divergent has the wing spacing at 10.5” with a cord of 13” at the root and a 2” stagger. Basically all the rules were thrown out the window. My reasoning is that we have much lower wing loading and fly the wing at less AOA so much less down wash is generated. Theory is somewhat proven as pitch trim does not change between level flight and vertical where the wings are mostly unloaded.