<p>You are given two strings, <code>word1</code> and <code>word2</code>. You want to construct a string in the following manner:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Choose some <strong>non-empty</strong> subsequence <code>subsequence1</code> from <code>word1</code>.</li>
	<li>Choose some <strong>non-empty</strong> subsequence <code>subsequence2</code> from <code>word2</code>.</li>
	<li>Concatenate the subsequences: <code>subsequence1 + subsequence2</code>, to make the string.</li>
</ul>

<p>Return <em>the <strong>length</strong> of the longest <strong>palindrome</strong> that can be constructed in the described manner. </em>If no palindromes can be constructed, return <code>0</code>.</p>

<p>A <strong>subsequence</strong> of a string <code>s</code> is a string that can be made by deleting some (possibly none) characters from <code>s</code> without changing the order of the remaining characters.</p>

<p>A <strong>palindrome</strong> is a string that reads the same forward&nbsp;as well as backward.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong class="example">Example 1:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> word1 = &quot;cacb&quot;, word2 = &quot;cbba&quot;
<strong>Output:</strong> 5
<strong>Explanation:</strong> Choose &quot;ab&quot; from word1 and &quot;cba&quot; from word2 to make &quot;abcba&quot;, which is a palindrome.</pre>

<p><strong class="example">Example 2:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> word1 = &quot;ab&quot;, word2 = &quot;ab&quot;
<strong>Output:</strong> 3
<strong>Explanation:</strong> Choose &quot;ab&quot; from word1 and &quot;a&quot; from word2 to make &quot;aba&quot;, which is a palindrome.</pre>

<p><strong class="example">Example 3:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> word1 = &quot;aa&quot;, word2 = &quot;bb&quot;
<strong>Output:</strong> 0
<strong>Explanation:</strong> You cannot construct a palindrome from the described method, so return 0.</pre>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li><code>1 &lt;= word1.length, word2.length &lt;= 1000</code></li>
	<li><code>word1</code> and <code>word2</code> consist of lowercase English letters.</li>
</ul>

class Solution:
    def longestPalindrome(self, s1: str, s2: str) -> int:
        ans = 0
        s = s1 + s2
        @cache 
        def dfs(i, j):
            nonlocal ans
            if i >j: 
                return 0
            if i == j:
                return 1
            if s[i] == s[j]:
                res = 2+dfs(i+1, j-1)
                # check if valid after combining:
                # ans only comes from here, update ans 
                if i < len(s1) <= j:
                    ans = max(ans, res)
                    
            else:
                res = max(dfs(i+1,j), dfs(i,j-1))
            return res
            
        dfs(0, len(s) - 1)
        return ans

1812