I wouldn't call this bizarre; I'd call it sadly typical. "Write down things that were publication-worthy 40 years ago in a nearly impossible amount of time " is

I wouldn't call this bizarre; I'd call it sadly typical. "Write down things that were publication-worthy 40 years ago in a nearly impossible amount of time " is a very common interview technique these days. Even companies that know better do it. And, nobody interviews in a manner other than "write code, under pressure, with someone looking over your shoulder," even if they're not using absurdly hard DP problems. It's sick how broken tech interviewing is.