Yes I've had this issue too. I haven't used any for or while loops, only if and else if statements and all the tests have passed, apart from the one error message saying that I've used restricted stuff. So what else is restricted besides for and while loops? It's not clear from the instructions.

Without code, this issue is impossible to resolve ... .

not an issue.

I am, I think the author is appending a new line character before making sure that the asterisks are aligned

I might have found a solution, see my issue above!

Could you show your code for reference? :)