How can it not? You are doing the calculation beforehand, and turn a O(n) problem into a O(1) problem.

YOLO programming

That's was very hard))

Because...

It's not a big deal. The numbers would have to be ginormous, certainly far larger than the test cases in this kata, for the recursive gcd to use significant stack depth.

Currently Codewars platform is experiencing issues. It's not a problem of this kata.

https://github.com/Codewars/codewars.com/issues/893

I only solved the JavaScript version of the problem you mention, so I can only guess about the Python translation.

By looking in the JavaScript test cases, I see it uses the same MySolution function for testing purposes, but it has a guard to prevent its usage in solutions:

var mySolution = new MySolution();
Test.assertEquals(mySolution.getCallCount(), 0, 'Hey, now, stay out of my solution');

I would expect a similar kind of check in Python tests.
So, either this check is not yet in Python tests, or it was introduced at a later date, after the cheat solution you mention. Or maybe the author himself submitted it in the early stages of the kata?

If Python does not have this check, then it should be marked as an issue in the kata for the author to fix it.

You can still progress from beta kata, but you only receive the progress once they are approved (and their rank is set). You can create harder kata which once approved will also contribute to your rank progress.

I am a 2kyu and I am still progressing by solving 8-7-6-5 kyu katas, so I am not sure why you say you cannot progress. However, it take a very long time to progress when you solve "easy" kata when you are have a 2kyu rank. Beta katas does not help you to progress, you only increase your total point ranking by solving beta katas, it will not help you to 'progress' toward 1 kyu.