Yes I agree. When I was at uni the best assignments were the ones that could be done simply (should take around an hour) but which offered a path to something more elaborate. There would be weeks a group of us would go into overdrive each trying to outdo the others.

Not always a lot of fun for the markers (who I suspect quickly learned to just guess and move on.)

Of course, while a fantastic learning experience its a terrible work habit. We start to believe "more is better" where as any professional will tell you "less is more".

It's harder to remove craft than it is to add it.