I didn't want to post code, but I guess it's the only way I can see to settle the debate. This should be manifestly linear. def check(s): is_palind

I didn't want to post code, but I guess it's the only way I can see to settle the debate. This should be manifestly linear. def check(s): is_palindrome = lambda s: s == s[::-1] if is_palindrome(s): return True d = [a==b for a, b in zip(s, s[::-1])].index(False) return is_palindrome(s[d+1:len(s)-d]) or is_palindrome(s[d:-d-1]) edit: It must be len(s)-d rather than -d, to handle d=0.