Given two solutions, you should pick the one with a wider first row. In your case, the first two slices are the same, but the last two slices could be cut two ways, and your solution has the less wide third slice.

The description does not match the current requirements, and the top solutions match the current requirements either. This kata has obviously been changed, probably adding the data with titles (such as MISS, DDS, and IV). Trying the top solutions now will cause them to time out, and if they didn't they would likely fail due to not accounting for titles.

The problem description should be updated to mention the additional complication of titles, and if possible solutions accepted before the kata changed should be removed.

Aside from that, this problem is very pleasantly challenging. I learned a lot, so thanks for making it!

I'm pretty sure they've changed the requirements since the top voted answers were accepted. For example, those don't deal with the titles (such as DR. or III). So it's probable that the prospects table is larger, and it's possible that they've also further constricted the runtime requirements.

It would be nice if they had either removed former top solutions or released the current more difficult version as a new kata.

Try adding this case to the test suite: [1, 2, 2, 1, 3], should return 3

If the numbers aren't ordered, you're in for a world of hurt. But it's a good approach if you order them first!