During Codeforces Round 1124 (Div. 2), I ran into a verdict discrepancy I can't explain, and I'm hoping someone from the community or the CF team can shed light on it.

Timeline of what happened:

I solved Problems A and B without issue. On Problem C 2269C - K Is Important, I submitted two solutions with a flawed approach and got Wrong Answer on both. On my third attempt, I switched to a simpler, more straightforward approach. This submission passed 11 of 12 test cases and got Time Limit Exceeded on test 12. My submission (TLE): 392241459 — language: GNU G++23

What I found after the contest: I compared my code with two friends' submissions for the same problem, both of which received Accepted, using the same compiler (GNU G++23):

Friend #1 (Accepted): 392242967 Friend #2 (Accepted): 392241937 (handle: aadityasiddham555)

All three submissions were verified character-for-character identical — same logic, same language and compiler version, no whitespace differences.

To rule out any mistake on my end, I asked Friend #1 to send me his code directly, and I copy-pasted and resubmitted it from my own account. That resubmission also received TLE on the same test case.

Summary of verdicts on identical code (same problem, same compiler):

Submitter Verdict Me TLE (test 8) Friend #1 Accepted Friend #2 Accepted Me, resubmitting Friend #1's exact code TLE (test 8)

My question to the community / CF team: Given that the code, language, and compiler were all identical across submissions, and my own account TLE'd even on a fresh copy-paste of an already-Accepted solution, is this a case of judging machine speed variance on a solution that was very close to the time limit? Is there something account-specific that could cause this? Any insight — or a rejudge, if one is possible — would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading, and apologies if this belongs elsewhere — first time reporting something like this.