I hope you pursue this. I appreciate that TNT use was made available to everyone and what Aikar was trying to do, but this cripples it for even legitimate use. I would even say that it would be easier to grief with it than to use it legitimately especially if you are trying to use it to clear an area of the Nether.
I think it is not fair, it removes the purpose that tnt is supposed to have. You would have to make a staircase of redstone with repeaters to carry the pulse just for one 8x8 hole it would take tons of redstone, I dont understand why it has to be this way. I do not understand the reasoning. I dont need more, but thanks. sam shot that idea down.