He as pointing out a potential inconsistency in your posts very subtly and politely, compared to how I would have done it.

I am a software engineer and I do not work the way you are describing. I take the actual problem to be solved very seriously and try and solve that in the most minimal way possible while leveraging and reusing existing code. I suppose I am not hired because I work differently. I've fallen into your trap of not designing complex systems in a stressful situation the way you expect me to.

So in revenge all my interviews now require a properly spelled and gramatically correct 5k word essay. It's just as arbitrary as what you've proposed. It is my "trap", which is your code word for "unreasonable and inscrutable expectation."