Gmail recovery keeps saying it can't verify it's me

did you fill in the form more than once? google says retry, and it genuinely means it, lots of people get through on the third or fourth go over a week, with the same answers each time. same laptop, same wifi, every time. give the last password you remember even if it was changed later, and never skip a question. if a recovery email exists, check it including spam, that's where the result goes. and if any old device is still signed in, a tablet, a tv app, an old phone in a drawer, use it to add a new phone number, that's the real shortcut.