But will you accept my late work in /this/ instance?

It is highly unlikely. All policies come with some exceptions, and we are in exceptional times. But absent some extraordinary case, no, we shall not.

The only way a course like this is manageable is to adhere rigorously to syllabus and grading criteria. I can’t treat you differently than I would someone else who’s story I found less plausible but with similar evidence, and call that equitable.

I’ve–we’ve–likely already told folk no for work that was less late than this, and also for work significantly later than this. In almost all circumstances completely believable. This is likely one of them. Students—people—are generally trustworthy. Unfortunately, that’s not the sum total of the issue. I can’t, without being rightly open to charges of favoritism, administer things on an as-believed basis. I don’t know any straightforward way to objectively apply criteria for this.

If you think this is unfair, know I consider the only thing worse than unfair policy is unfair policy unfairly applied.

We allow unlimited submissions, so you have chances to iteratively improve things, and always make sure you have a submission in.

Do recall that our much-touted approach for this has been to allow the easy, free, no questions asked drop of at least one assignment, possibly two. I know this isn’t the way you’d hoped to use one—IMO any time you have to use one, it’s something sub-optimal going on—but do rest assured a simple mistake in and of itself shouldn’t affect your grade.

We are also more than happy to go over your solutions with you in office hours, and would be happy to give you 1:1 feedback on your work.