Greg’s which strategy can we apply in this question?
First I solved blank 3,
beside third blank , (comma) → indicates Positive(support)
Look to the left of the blank,
the main idea here is the idea was tarred(damaged) which is a bad thing → indicates Negative
then 3rd blank should be Negative by math strategy,
third blank ->Tarred Or damaged(negative)
Discredited is most close to tarred
For second blank ,
look at but → indicates negative.
to the left ,impressive ->indicates positive
So the third blank should be negative ,
I filled less impressive in the blank, which is most close to unsound as figures cannot be redundant.
Notice the period . (full-stop) after first blank. It indicates support.
Looking at the left of . ,
valuation was not great and idea was damaged → negative
So blank 1 is negative by math strategy.
I did elimination in last case.B is most close negative word that fits the blank