This strange take-home policy presumably originates in the presumptuous view that an interview is a one way process - the company is auditioning you only - and

This strange take-home policy presumably originates in the presumptuous view that an interview is a one way process - the company is auditioning you only - and persists by assent of participating engineers who are happy to concede the point rather than demanding the obvious fix for the issue - payment for the suggested time. I have no idea why anybody invests hours of their time in these situations without some guaranteed return on it.