I don't see the so called "elegant" solution any special at all, but if the level 1 programmer in your org needs more time to understand, and maybe making bugs or mistakes, coz of not fully understand the code, than it's a problem.
See Occam razor.
The "elegant" solution tries to be smart, or optimize where there is no need at all. Yes the simple "elegant" solution is just 1 instruction slower, and longer only in the end, but the inline version is 1 instruction slower in the loop, which is stated more elegant in the article.
EDIT:
Or you can get the same principle as the Occam's razor, which is KISS keep it simple, stupid, silly and straightforward
The "elegant" solution tries to be smart, or optimize where there is no need at all. Yes the simple "elegant" solution is just 1 instruction slower, and longer only in the end, but the inline version is 1 instruction slower in the loop, which is stated more elegant in the article.
EDIT: Or you can get the same principle as the Occam's razor, which is KISS keep it simple, stupid, silly and straightforward