  The quantization of Lorentzian or Euclidean 2+1 gravity by canonical methods
is a well-studied problem. However, the constraints of 2+1 gravity are those of
a topological field theory and therefore resemble very little those of the
corresponding Lorentzian 3+1 constraints. In this paper we canonically quantize
Euclidean 2+1 gravity for arbitrary genus of the spacelike hypersurface with
new, classically equivalent constraints that maximally probe the Lorentzian 3+1
situation. We choose the signature to be Euclidean because this implies that
the gauge group is, as in the 3+1 case, SU(2) rather than SU(1,1). We employ,
and carry out to full completion, the new quantization method introduced in
preceding papers of this series which resulted in a finite 3+1 Lorentzian
quantum field theory for gravity. The space of solutions to all constraints
turns out to be much larger than the one as obtained by traditional approaches,
however, it is fully included. Thus, by suitable restriction of the solution
space, we can recover all former results which gives confidence in the new
quantization methods. The meaning of the remaining "spurious solutions" is
discussed.
