I don't understand this. I've made a "tictactoe" level 6 months ago, and got rejected because of being tedious too. This is a tedious level, and get's accepted! The thing is i'm not jealous, nothing of that.
Sometimes they don't work out quite as envisioned. I played with it for some time. So, now I offer up a challenge. I would love to see you or anyone else make a better level with the same concept, TicTac Toe 2/3/4/or Naughts and Crosses.