Re: polynomial time solution for traveling salesman?

It's hard to say without knowing the exact details. I have not specifically
looked into others' research in this area.

It is quite often the case that highly complex problems such as this one can
be reduced in complexity by applying an assumption. These assumptions make
the solution "impure", but when assumption like "the salesman is unlikely
to travel from one side of the planet to the other in one go" are so
"obviously" correct, that the solution is not tainted in any way.

If this is too wooly, I suggest resubmitting, detailing the algorithm.