Comment by anexprogrammer

...and this example is none of those things, and untouched in 2 years.

If an interviewee did respond with some or all of the points you raise he'd have turned a potential negative into a positive point. This instance is the simple arithmetic mean with no consideration of anything.

I stand by my original comment. Nine times out of ten an average is going to be resolutely unexceptional, one time in ten or less it's the core of a well-crafted solution with a decent reason for being.